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Glimpses of Europe 



BY 



Hon. Wm. A. Braman 

ELYRIA, OHIO 



1001 

FBESS OF J. B. SAVAGE 
CLIVELAND 



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Two Cohes Received 

DEC. 9 190? 

COPVRIOHT ENTRY 

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Copyright igor 
by Wm. A. Braman 



To my faithful , true, and loving wife % 

Sophia E. Braman, 

this book is inscribed. Her practical common sense and 

sound advice have for thirty -six years generously 

contributed in making smooth the rough 

places in the pathway 

of my life. 



CONTENTS 



The Ocean Voyage 9-17 

The Trossacks and Highlands of Scotland 18- 28 

Durham and Its Churches 29- 34 

Agricultural Phases and Country Scenes in Eng- 
land 35-42 

The Vastness of London 43- 49 

First Impressions of the Continent 50- 57 

The Germans in the "Vaterland" 58-66 

Irksome Railroading on the Continent 67- 74 

Scenes in the Alps 75- 81 

Antiquated Venice 82-87 

Venetian Enterprise 88- 93 

Florence the Home of Art 94-100 

The Eternal City 101-107 

Obsequies of the Dead King 108-116 

Pisa and Its Ancient Landmarks 117-124 

Fascinations of the Alps 125-131 

Glittering Paris 132-138 

French Heroes 139-145 

Beautiful Versailles 146-152 

Farewell to Paris 153-160 

Windsor and Its Castle 161-167 

From Warwick to Stratford 168-176 

Busy Birmingham 177-183 

The Irish Metropolis and Her Landmarks 184-191 

Killarney, Its Scenery and Surroundings 192-200 

Giant's Causeway 201-210 



INTRODUCTION 

While writing "Glimpses of Europe" for news- 
paper publication, I had no thought of incorporating 
the letters in a bound volume. Repeated requests 
that this be done, received from a variety of sources, 
accounts for my making the venture. A life-long 
friend, whose judgment I prize highly, under recent 
date wrote me as follows : 

"I have read with the liveliest interest your serial 
letters in the press, covering your trip through 
Europe. To my mind they are the most readable 
articles of their character, because of their composi- 
tion and the information imparted, that I have ever 
read. In this, I believe, those in the community who 
have read them as they appeared, will concur. I 
believe you owe it to the people, both of this genera- 
tion and those unborn, to put them in book form, for 
they will ever be read with increasing interest. 

"I hope that you can see your way clear to do 
this." 

* * * 

An extract from a letter received from a lady 
friend says : 

"I suppose the suggestion that your foreign letters 
should appear in book form is not a new one to you, 
but I would like to help emphasize the fact that they 
are much too interesting and too valuable to be lost 
sight of. They contain more that is fascinating and 



less that is tedious than any letters of their character 
I have ever read, and I sincerely hope I may some day 
be the happy possessor of a bound volume, which 
would, I am sure, be a source of perpetual delight to 
my family." 

* * * 

These flattering references settled it that a book 
should be added to the long list which coming gen- 
erations will allow to be buried under the dusts of 
antiquity. 

Well, what do you think of Europe? Did you 

visit any country better than this? were questions 

often asked and briefly replied to. In this volume 

they, with many other questions, are answered in 

detail. As an educator along patriotic lines there is 

nothing to compare with foreign travel. If a cog has 

slipped in the loyalty of an American, if he fails to 

appreciate the superiority of the land of his birth or 

adoption, and is inclined to magnify the hard side of 

human experience, the winter of his discontent may 

be shortened and his atmosphere sweetened by a few 

months of such education as a foreign trip only can 

furnish. My hope is that the reader will add to the 

knowledge received from this volume by a trip to the 

old world, which shall prove as enjoyable as the one 

herein described. 

The Author. 



Glimpses of Europe. 



THE OCEAN VOYAGE 

FIRST PEEP OP THE IRISH COAST— DESCRIPTION OF GLASGOW. 



On the 30th of June, 1900, the writer with Dr. 
H. S. Sheffield and F. O. Williams, of Elyria, O., 
sailed out of New York harbor on the City of Rome 
for a trip through Great Britain and the continent. 
This great ocean liner, the pride of the Anchor line of 
passenger steamers, had been chartered by Mr. F. C. 
Clark, tourist, of New York. Mr. Clark had, for 
stipulated amounts, entered into contract with the 
passengers to furnish the ocean passage to and from 
Europe, to pay all railroad fares on the other side, 
also all hotel bills, and to furnish conductors and 
guides. His agreement that everything should be 
first-class was faithfully kept. The length of the trip 
usually had reference to the length of their respective 
vacations or the length of their purses. Fifteen hun- 
dred people were stowed away in the City of Rome 
for a brief period of eight days; four hundred and 
sixty belonged in the first cabin, nearly as many to the 
second cabin, while the steerage passengers and the 
crew made up the aggregation. It was a cosmo- 
politan crowd, representing many nationalities, nearly 



10 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

every state and territory in the union and all vocations 
of life. There were ministers in search of education 
that could not be obtained at home, sixty members 
of the medical profession seeking rest and recreation 
for themselves and their patients, members of the bar 
whose pleas were not for jury verdicts, teachers need- 
ing relaxation from the confines of the schoolroom, 
western farmers, often garrulous and loud, prepared 
to give pointers on raising corn and cattle, pigs and 
pumpkins. This miscellaneous crowd without excep- 
tion bade farewell to the land of their birth, welcoming 
the bright prospects with high expectations, knowing 
that in a few brief months the accumulations perhaps 
of years would be exchanged for the pleasure and 
profit of a European trip. 

For a student of human nature there is no place 
like an ocean steamer. Restraints are usually left 
behind, and adjustments to the new conditions on 
ship board do not fail to call out qualities not sugges- 
tive of amiability or unselfishness. Two days were 
sufficient for congenial spirits to assemble in little 
groups, and the sets were more numerous than the 
countries represented. Travelers on our great lakes, 
occupying spacious staterooms and wide, comfortable 
berths, have but a faint conception of the narrow, 
cramped, inhospitable box which must be accepted 
by the pilgrims on the Atlantic, even after twelve to 
fifteen dollars extra is paid for location and special 
privileges. The gorgeous display of table furniture, 
coupled with the attractive menu cards, all intended 
to stimulate the appetite, fail in their purpose when 
one sniff of the kitchen disinfectants is taken, and then 



THE OCEAN VOYAGE. 11 

the unfortunates who are booked for the second table 
who have soiled crockery, spilled coffee representing 
maps of Asia on the table linen, are subjects of com- 
miseration. 

How to kill time on the ocean is the potent every 
day problem. Sports of every conceivable form are 
resorted to, betting on the distance covered by the 
ship during the current twenty-four hours being the 
most common. It is on this sort of speculation that 
the slick gentry, the sports who follow the seas for a 
livelihood, make their largest winnings; these gam- 
blers are easily spotted, their fine cloth and conspic- 
uous diamonds are a complete give away to their 
nefarious calling. Not unfrequently they stand in 
with the officers of the ship, with whom they divide 
the fleeces of the unwary lambs ; of course the mass of 
the gambling is on a small scale, similar to the parlor 
games practiced at home. Our trip across the ocean 
was a most fortunate one. We had gentle breezes 
and smooth seas. Each day was a repetition of the 
day previous. Sunshine and bright prospects fur- 
nished a bright side and a silver lining to every cloud. 
The great mass of passengers, as soon as out of 
sight of land, commence longing for the land beyond. 
In this case there was no serious break in the tran- 
quility and enjoyment, except the thoughts which 
force themselves upon every loyal American as he 
takes the last look or the last gray streak in the west 
fades from his sight and he bids adieu to all that is 
dear in this world and becomes impressed with the 
dangers and vague uncertainties of a safe return. This 
was an occasion for the shedding of many a silent 



12 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

tear. In mid-ocean, although sailing under a British 
flag, our glorious Fourth of July was celebrated, with 
as much ardor and with a patriotism as intense as was 
ever seen in our broad land. We had the declaration 
of independence portrayed in all its impressiveness, 
and the American heart on board the City of Rome 
was fired by oratory of no inferior sort. There was 
one day when the numerous whales which were to be 
seen were not permitted to do all the blowing. On 
the morning of the eighth day passengers were out 
early and were rewarded by a sight of the Irish coast. 
Any land of any color would have been welcome, but 
the beautiful emerald green interspersed with the 
golden grain of the emerald isle — like the land of 
promise to look upon — seemed a paradise. 

At Moville, Ireland, the first stop, the most of our 
steerage contingent left us. They were generally the 
sons and daughters of Irish parents, who remained in 
the old home, while the children in search of some- 
thing better had spent a few years in America accu- 
mulating the money now to be used for the comfort 
of their parents in their declining years, or in paying 
their expenses to a home beyond the sea. The joy 
depicted in these faces when members of the same 
family were united was touching. 

Landing at Greenock, Scotland, 14 miles from 
Glasgow, we were treated to the first farce of an 
examination of our baggage by a custom house offi- 
cer. Liquors and tobacco in their various forms were 
diligently sought after, as Great Britain depends 
largely upon these commodities for her revenue. The 
impositions practiced by the smugglers were daring 



THE OCEAN VOYAGE. 13 

and too numerous to recount. Our trip by rail to 
Glasgow was typical of the travel for thousands of 
miles through Europe. 

English carriages, unlike the passenger coaches in 
America, are notorious for what they do not possess, 
namely the comforts and conveniences which make 
travel in America a pleasure instead of a hardship. 
You enter an English passenger coach by a side door. 
If your department is filled you become one of either 
eight or ten passengers. The seats on each side facing 
each other bring you into close proximity with your 
neighbor on the opposite side. If one of your own 
family, a friend, or even a new found acquaintance 
that proves agreeable, you are fortunate, but in case 
of a brain fired with liquor, or a mouth uttering foul 
oaths, you must grin and bear it, as there is no 
remedy. You are literally in a box without proper 
ventilation and without the utilities needed for the 
comfort and convenience of the traveler, which are 
never wanting in an American coach. During a ride 
covering more than 6,000 miles and during the great- 
est heat of summer, I failed to see in a single case a 
drop of water to quench the thirst of passengers. This 
wanton disregard, as you must know, occasions much 
suffering. While some of the countries show a dis- 
position to adopt American methods of transporta- 
tion, others are as deep as ever in the ruts. This may 
be fairly attributed in a measure to government own- 
ership of the railroads. On the continent nearly or all 
steam roads are owned and managed by the govern- 
ment and are non-progressive, there being no compe- 
tition. There is no incentive for improvement, and 



14 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

the traveler at the end of his European tour recalls the 
hours spent in being dragged through European 
countries at a poor dying rate as something akin to 
horror. True, the countries of Great Britain each 
have some fairly well equipped lines and make respect- 
able time, but after crossing the English channel you 
will hunt in vain for the well-equipped up-to-date 
tramways. Glasgow, the capital and leading city of 
"Bonnie" Scotland, contains about 1,000,000 inhabi- 
tants. It is built mainly of freestone, and lacks the 
beauty and fine architecture of most European cities 
of similar size. It is the center of a great deal of 
wealth, is essentially a manufacturing city and is liter- 
ally a hive of industry. The trail of its congested 
population is easily traced by its squalor and destitu- 
tion, in the poverty stricken portions the depths of 
human depravity are being conjured with. Degrada- 
tion as the result of drink is in evidence on all sides. 
Red nosed women, blear-eyed, besotted men, confront 
you not only in localities where sin is the thriftiest 
plant, where crime is hatched and low dives flourish, 
but in the busy marts, where the best people congre- 
gate, the evidence of drunkenness is forced upon you. 
I witnessed more inebriation, more cases in Glasgow 
requiring the attention of the police than in any other 
city of Europe. The evil of intemperance long ago 
became so potent in Glasgow that the authorities 
became alarmed at its inroads. Its effect not only 
upon the moral and social conditions created alarm, 
but the intellectual standards were menaced to a 
degree which called for interference. Laws most 
stringent for regulating the drinking places were 
passed and are being enforced. But appetite, the 



THE OCEAN VOYAGE. 15 

grim monster, holds in his clutch its thousands of 
victims of both sexes, who either from their own 
indiscretions, or by inheritance, have become slaves 
through the drink habit. The free use of distilled 
liquors, in other words Scotch whisky, is largely 
responsible for this national calamity. 

A peculiar feature of this deplorable custom is in 
the fact that women in Glasgow are addicted to drink 
nearly as much as men, and that the police court on 
Monday morning finds nearly as many women as men 
arraigned for drunkenness. Glasgow boasts of the 
best organized, best directed and most efficient city 
government in the world. Its 72 lawmakers, or 
members of its city council, are selected from its army 
of successful business men. Lord Provost Chisholm, 
who has been connected with its city government for 
thirty years, informed me that he had never known a 
case of crookedness, not even a charge or suspicion of 
crookedness laid at the door of their city government. 
The city owns its public utilities and by good manage- 
ment the cost of water, gas, electric lights and car 
fares have been reduced to the patrons and consumers. 
Great Britain has less than three times the number of 
square miles in Ohio, while Scotland has about three- 
fourths the area contained in our state. The census 
of 1880 showed 14 persons to the square mile in the 
United States, while in Great Britain in the following 
year the figures showed 289 to the square mile, or 35 
millions on 121,000 square miles. With such a con- 
gested population, wages of common laborers are kept 
down to a low level. I saw women in the field digging 
potatoes for ten cents a day. Common laborers at 
work on the streets for from 50 to 60 cents per day. 



16 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

Operators in the factories were receiving less than 
half the prices paid for the same kinds of labor in this 
country. Mechanics work for much less than here, 
and all classes of laborers have a discouraged look 
and appear to be living without hope. Glasgow has 
many traditions. Years ago it was the scene of 
internal strife, of domestic and foreign war, of victory 
and defeat, making up her full share of blood curdling 
history. Scotland had several heroes, which are being 
remembered with expensive and beautiful monu- 
ments. The Scots revel in the glorious record made 
on the field of battle by her Bruce and her Wallace, 
as well as the record in the literary world made by her 
favorite sons, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns, and 
Thomas Carlyle. Glasgow points with pride to one of 
the very finest city buildings in the world, to her 
extensive and elegant botanical gardens and to her 
exposition buildings. Transportation facilities of a 
public nature in Glasgow are limited to three miles of 
electric road and 40 miles of horse cars, that is, surface 
roads, but through many subterranean passages pas- 
sengers are rushed through utter darkness. The city 
has one immense cathedral, built in the fifth century, 
around which the interests of tourists center. She 
supports a great university, where her young men are 
fitted for the various professions. 

The health of Glasgow is precarious. The range 
of mortality being from 19 to 21 per 1,000. Being in 
the same latitude as Labrador, the nights in summer 
are exceedingly short, twilight lasting until near 11 
o'clock, and daylight appearing about two in the 
morning. For much valuable information obtained 
relating to the moral, social and industrial conditions 



THE OCEAN VOYAGE. 17 

of this old city, I am indebted to our consul, Hon. 
Samuel M. Taylor, ex-member of 68th, 69th and 70th 
general assemblies, and for four years secretary of 
state of Ohio. Mr. Taylor is an appointee of President 
McKinley, and his high standing, socially and offi- 
cially, in his adopted home, shows that the president 
made no mistake. 



THE TROSSACKS AND HIGHLANDS OF 
SCOTLAND 



EDINBURG AND ITS BEAUTIES— THE HOME OF SIR WALTER 
SCOTT— THOMAS CARLYLE. 



From the Scotch metropolis to Edinburgh by way 
of the far-famed Trossacks was a day's ride by 
steamer, rail and stagecoach. The Trossacks, which 
include lakes Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine have 
long been the subject of poetry and song. 

The deep, clear, sparkling water of these lakes, the 
scenery which fringe the shores, the mountains tower- 
ing 3,000 feet above the level of the water abounding 
in heather in all its varieties, the cottages along the 
banks, erected for the summer homes of the million- 
aires of Glasgow, combined with the bright sunshine 
of July 10th to make the day's trip smack of enchant- 
ment. 

Ten miles ride in open coaches over the hills and 
through the valleys gave our party a hint of life in the 
highlands of Scotland. This life was emphasized by 
the bag-pipers, who, for the pennies tossed to them, 
gave us generous amounts of Scotch ballads. There 
was a flavor of originality or naturalness in this old, 
old country that was striking. The Scotch cattle with 
their broad horns, hollow backs and long woolly hair ; 
the black faced native sheep with wool touching the 
ground, getting their living on the mountains among 
the ever-present heather; the wild flowers in great 
variety and profusion, and the roads winding around 

18 



HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 19 

and over the mountains, gave a romantic tinge to the 
day's enjoyment. 

Beyond the lakes we visit Stirling Castle, eleven 
centuries old, never taken by force of arms; it was 
sometimes surrendered for want of food or water, but 
every attempt to capture it by force was resisted. 

This old fortress, erected on a high eminence, rises 
1,000 feet above the common level. Its massive walls, 
covering several acres, are well preserved. Within we 
were shown the room where King James killed Doug- 
las, after which he forced his body through a little 
window, landing it on the rocks hundreds of feet 
below. From the top of the castle, in the distance, 
though in plain sight, lies the field of Bannockburn, 
familiar to the school boys of fifty years ago; even 
young Scotchmen today are pleased to remind the 
American traveler of the fact that her Bruce, with 
30,000 men, upon this famous battleground won a 
victory in the 13th century over 100,000 Englishmen, 
thereby securing Scotch independence. Stirling 
Castle is one of the comparatively few castles now 
occupied and kept in order; within its walls are many 
relics of barbarism. There are great quantities of 
artillery stored, guns and other munitions of war long 
since out of date. The rude pulpit once occupied by 
John Knox, the great reformer, and also an immensely 
long list of interesting curiosities which have been 
stored there for centuries. The walls of the castle, 
varying in thickness from four to nine feet, the little, 
cheerless rooms, the narrow winding stair cases, the 
diminutive windows, heavily grated, were not calcu- 
lated to inspire the tourist with envy of the people 



20 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

who lived in the middle ages in that particular locality. 
Tales of blood were related by the guides in all their 
hideousness. Every room in the castle has a history, 
suggestive of barbarism. Outside the castle is an 
elegant monument erected to the memory of Wallace, 
and near by is a great block of granite upon which 
thousands of culprits were beheaded. The ride from 
the castle to Edinburgh was by the way of Firth of 
Forth bridge, one and one-half miles long, and the 
longest bridge in the world. It is a marvel, and a 
great triumph of skillful engineering. 

Edinburgh boasts of its beauty. It has a popula- 
tion of 400,000, and for architecture, fine finish and 
beautiful homes it has few equals and no superiors in 
Europe. Its Princess street is the pride of Scotland, 
while its miles and miles of four-story stone flats are 
suggestive of elegance and comfort. Edinburgh is 
scrupulously clean. Her pavements, her parks, and 
her public places are all free from neglect. 

There is a deliberation in the business methods of 
her shop-keepers that surprises the Americans. An 
American opening his store as late as eight o'clock 
a. m. would excite remarks calling out predictions of 
ultimate failure, while the Scotch merchant opens at 
his convenience, perhaps 8 o'clock, perhaps 9 or even 
10:30. Edinburgh Castle, the most conspicuous 
structure in the city, has traditions, historical wonders 
without limit. The curios stored within its walls 
excite a keen interest in every beholder. In the 
middle of the street, not far from the castle, may be 
seen a marble slab which marks the grave of John 
Knox. 



HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 21 

Holyrood Palace, the home of Mary, Queen of 
Scots, in charge of the government, is kept in a fair 
state of preservation. It was here that Mary suffered 
the reverses which ended in her being beheaded by 
order of Queen Elizabeth, eleven years later. The 
exact spot where Riggio was assassinated at the 
instance of her husband was pointed out. Even the 
bed occupied by Queen 3 Mary, the furniture which 
adorned her room, are kept in order for the sight- 
seers and the English shillings which in a steady 
stream are pouring into the cash box. Edinburgh 
emphasizes the tributes which Scotland pays to her 
honored dead. Judging from the costly monuments 
and elegant memorials, Sir Walter Scott stands first 
in the hearts of his countrymen. From 1798 to 1826, 
Sir Walter honored Edinburgh with his presence. I 
saw the house which he occupied, and where many of 
his choicest productions were written. 

Edinburgh has many old, old structures, giving 
that portion of the city first erected an ancient 
appearance. 

The church of John Knox still stands, but most of 
the old public buildings are occupied as cheap tene- 
ments where poverty and squalor are the leading 
features. From Edinburgh to Melrose Abbey, the 
quaint old ruin, is but a short ride. A portion of the 
walls of the Abbey still stand. 

It was first built in the eleventh century and was 
destroyed three times before abandonment. It is here 
that the heart of Bruce is buried, and the ancient 
records on the tombstones near at hand serve to 
remind the traveler that he is being confronted with 



22 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

the memories of the long-dead past. The ruins of 
Melrose Abbey were ever a favorite resort of Sir 
Walter Scott, and from its historic walls and the illus- 
trious dead that rest within the enclosure, the great 
poet received inspiration which has delighted the 
admirers of his poetic masterpieces. Speaking of the 
visitors to the Abbey, Scott says, "The pillared arches 
were over their heads, and beneath their feet were the 
bones of the dead." 

Abbotsford, the country home of Sir Walter Scott, 
scarcely four miles from Melrose Abbey, excites the 
profound interest of all visitors. Twelve hundred 
acres of fertile Scotch soil, through which runs the 
Tweed, was the spot selected by this man of letters for 
a country seat suggestive of a palace. It was here 
that he erected one of the most elegant and most 
extensive residences in all Europe. It was the climax 
of his pride and ambition — the dream of his literary 
inspiration — to leave in Abbotsford a monument 
which should endure, was fully realized. Neither 
money nor pains were spared to erect in the most sub- 
stantial manner, and to complete in all its appoint- 
ments, a structure which should be a lasting credit to 
his memory. This property is preserved intact, as it 
left the hands of Sir Walter, its architect and builder. 
It is owned by his great grand-daughter, who realizes 
a handsome income each year from the hands of the 
swarms of visitors that flock to Abbotsford. Every 
visitor is shown through the library, where 20,000 
volumes of Scott's own selection are upon the shelves. 
There are paintings, statuary and other works of art. 
Through the room of curios, there is stored an incon- 



HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 23 

ceivable variety of the world's curiosities, every 
implement of human torture that genius could invent, 
from the thumb-screw, the implement for crushing the 
human skull, and the rack for pulling human beings 
into shreds, is on exhibition. There are firearms and 
coats of arms, even the oaken chest in which was 
found the skeleton of the bride who playfully secreted 
herself as related in the Mistletoe Bough, pipes and 
snuff-boxes in profusion. In his writing room stands 
the desk, the pens, the inkstand and the chair occupied 
and used by the great novelist during his last days; 
even the last suit of clothes (fashioned uniquely) that 
he wore, seventy years ago, is kept on exhibition and 
contributes to filling one of the most delightful hours 
spent in Europe. 

The great novelist was a many-sided man. He 
was not only the leading writer of fiction in his time, 
but a poet of genius and signal ability. He enter- 
tained with a hospitality which made him one of the 
most popular society men of his time ; his high sense 
of honor and pardonable pride were the means of 
shortening his days, in a Herculean effort to pay the 
last dollar of an indebtedness incurred through an 
unfortunate partnership. 

There is a charm and a fascination in being asso- 
ciated or in touch even for one brief hour with the 
handiwork of the writer of Rob Roy and Ivanhoe, and 
I shared with others the regret of leaving Abbotsford 
all too soon. The devotion of the great writer to his 
native land may be inferred from his familiar lines 
which follow : 



24 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 

This is my own, my native land! 
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned. 
As home his footsteps he hath turned 

From wandering on a foreign strand; 
If such there be, go, mark him well; 
For him no minstrel raptures swell, 
High though his titles, proud his name, 
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim 
Despite those titles, powers and pelf, 
The wretch, concentered all in self, 
Living, shall forfeit all renown, 
And, doubly dying, shall go down 
To the vile dust from whence he sprung 
Unwept, unhonored and unsung." 

Robert Burns, or Bobbie Burns, as the Scots are 
wont to call him, was born in 1759 at a cottage about 
two miles from Ayr and twelve miles from Glasgow. 
His father, Wm. Burness, was a Scottish peasant 
"who wrought hard and practiced integrity." His 
little farm afforded but a scanty living, and the tides 
of adversity had to be reckoned with. Carlyle says 
that Robert was fortunate in his father, he being a 
man of thoughtful and intense character, valuing 
knowledge, possessing some, and open-minded for 
more. 

Robert, on account of his unceasing toil, speaks 
of himself at sixteen as a gallev slave. He was the 
principal laborer on the farm, and thrashed the corn 
with his own hands. 

Poverty had sunk the family below the reach of a 
cheap school system. They were unable for years to 
indulge in butcher's meat. 

Robert was possessed of a fiery temper and a thirst 



HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 25 

for knowledge that was insatiable. When a boy he 
procured a few little volumes, which he devoured with 
avidity. At meal times he ate with a spoon in one 
hand and had a book in the other. He read while 
driving his cart, and repeated while following the 
plough. While at work in the fields, Robert says: 
"I invented new forms and was inspired with new 
ideas." Poets are born, not made, but this was a case 
of poetic genius reaching the highest pinnacle by one 
of the rockiest of roads. He says that in his boyhood 
he was constantly inspired with the wish : 

"That I, for poor auld Scotland's sake, 
Some useful plan or book could make, 
Or sing a song, at least." 

Cheered by a burning ambition, and borne up by 
a buoyant humor, his early productions found favor 
and encouragement. The success of his first volume 
turned the current of his life. All his plans were 
changed, and he removed to Edinburgh, became 
associated with and took a high position as a poet 
among men of letters. 

Sir Walter Scott, who knew him in Edinburgh, 
says: "I never saw such another eye in a human 
head ; the eye alone indicated the poetic character and 
temperament." He says further: "His person was 
robust, his manners rustic, not clownish." But, alas! 
Burns was cursed with a social trend. He inherited 
the poverty of his father, but not his correct habits 
nor Christian character. Of a convivial nature, he 
took to dissipation to drown his reverses, which only 
brought wretchedness and woe to himself and family. 
He died at the age of thirty-seven, on the day of the 



26 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

birth of his last son. Like many another genius, his 
work was not fully appreciated until after he passed 
away. His poems afforded him but a scanty living, 
and he was haunted on his death-bed by fear of 
imprisonment for debt. 

Burns could hardly make money enough to 
afford a poor living, but he could make poetry that 
elevated him to the highest plane of poetical geniuses. 
The little cottage out on the farm, where a good share 
of his life was spent, was covered with vines, and roses 
were blooming under the front windows; the broad, 
old-fashioned fireplace and some pieces of carved 
furniture gave the modest little home an air of com- 
fort; the sixpences received from the tourists during 
the year for an inspection of the hallowed spot, aggre- 
gate a large sum. 

Burns is idolized by his native countrymen, and 
monuments to his memory are frequent. Inside of his 
costly monument at Edinburgh I saw much of his 
original manuscript, as well as a large collection of 
curios selected by himself. There was also his gun, 
knife and fork, snuff-box, pipes, etc. 

Thomas Carlyle, one of the brainiest of all literary 
characters, was born in Dumfreshire, Scotland, in 
1795 and died in 1881. Carlyle studied for the min- 
istry, but his religious views precluded him from the 
pulpit of the Scottish church, and he embraced litera- 
ture as a profession. His "Sartor Resartus," his 
"History of the French Revolution," and his contribu- 
tions to the leading magazines, gave him a world- 
wide notoriety as a man of letters, and a literary star 
of the first magnitude. As a writer of force and genius 



HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 27 

Scotland never produced a greater, but unfortunately 
a bad stomach and a few bad disappointments made 
him a pessimist. He saw the world through smoked 
or clouded glasses, and his satire and sarcasm indi- 
cated that he was on bad terms with himself. For 
intellectual scope, however, profound judgment and 
force of expression, Carlyle was without a peer. His 
industry and intellectual application equipped him for 
literary warfare. His use of meat-axe rhetoric made 
him a terror to his enemies, which were multiplied by 
his skillful thrusts. Unlike Walter Scott, Carlyle 
lacked diplomacy. With the face and the tempera- 
ment of a dyspeptic, his talent was often a source of 
weakness. Clear-headed, honest and fearless, he 
attracted by his brilliancy, while his cold, morose for- 
bidding face repelled many of his would-be friends. 
Had the intellect of Carlyle found lodgment in a 
broad, generous nature, had he been, like Sir Walter, 
a good entertainer, instead of leading a secluded, 
retired kind of life, he would have been the idol of 
Scotland while living, instead of the admired (with a 
qualification) after death. Such keen gifts of percep- 
tion, such singularly forcible diction as his, rarely 
becomes the asset of any writer. Monuments to his 
memory are conspicuous in all the leading cities of 
Scotland. 

For three hundred years Scotland was under the 
domination of Rome ; a part of this period was during 
the reign of Julius Caesar. The Scots were originally 
Irish Celts. The peculiar dialects of the Highlanders 
was and is a sort of confused mixture of the Gallic, 
the Pict and English tongues. Properly analyzed, 



28 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

this language might be termed a neighborly com- 
promise. The middle ages witnessed in the highlands 
a condition of semi-barbarism, but after the fourteenth 
century there was improvement, and a higher plane 
of civilization was reached. A race of sturdy, resolute 
people has been cultivated and perpetuated. The 
Highlanders take great pride in their traditions and 
historical achievements. Loyal to their government 
and true to their instincts as a nation, the Scotch 
people, in point of honesty and integrity, stand high. 
The physical conditions of Scotland take a wide 
range. The lowlands are generally rich and produc- 
tive of grass, oats, potatoes and all root crops, while 
the highlands afford pasture for sheep and goats. 
There are large tracts which produce little besides 
heather, and are practically worthless, except for 
minerals, and for peat, which is used for fuel. The 
scenery in the different belts of territory is in marked 
contrast, but as a rule is striking and beautiful. The 
population of Scotland is unevenly distributed, from 
twelve persons to the square mile as a minimum in the 
highlands to ten hundred and twenty-six as a maxi- 
mum in the manufacturing districts, covers the range. 
The manufacture of iron and iron products leads all 
others in Scotland. 

The rural economy observed is about the same as 
the other countries of Britain. The good health, out- 
side of cities, and low death rate is attributed to almost 
universal use of oatmeal and the small variety com- 
posing daily diet. There is little of undermining of 
health and vigor with luxurious living. An inheri- 
tance of poverty has guaranteed the Highlanders 
against such excesses as are apt to follow in the train 
of large wealth. 



DURHAM AND ITS CHURCHES 



QUAINT OLD YORK— COMMERCIAL PETERBOROUGH— WHAT ENG- 
LAND HAS STOOD FOR, FOR THE LAST 500 YEARS. 



Out of Scotland into old England the rich Scottish 
brogue is left behind, or exchanged for the numerous 
dialects which one hears in even a short trip through 
England, and then there is a noticeable difference in 
the gait of the inhabitants. The erect form and the 
elastic step of Edinburgh is almost lost sight of in 
Durham, where the swinging gait predominates, and 
the majority of men seem as old at forty as they ought 
to appear at fifty. 

Our train brought no coals to New Castle, but our 
clothes were saturated with coal smoke and more or 
less coated with coal dust, as we pulled out of the 
murky, sooty, begrimed city. 

Our next stop in England was at the old city of 
Durham, located in one of the most northern shires in 
England. The landscapes as seen from the railroad 
were not calculated to impress the stranger favorably 
who had pictured England as a paradise. In the 
valleys there were evidences of fertility, in the good 
crops of wheat and grass, but the most of the land was 
broken, ranging from high hills to mountains, with 
black, naked, barren regions, the elevations ranging 
from 1,000 to 2,200 feet above the sea. Some of these 
extensive tracts are rich in minerals, the limestone 
being the most extensive and productive in the king- 
dom. In the productive portions of the county 



30 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

Durham cattle were numerous; the cows are said to 
be the best milk-producers in the country. Mutton 
breeds of sheep are kept by the farmers. 

The city of Durham, fourteen miles south of New 
Castle, in ancient days was a small Roman camp, but 
the city proper dates only from the tenth century. It 
is remarkable for its prodigal expenditures and the 
erection of its churches, and its great cathedral built 
by the Normans. This cathedral, which from time to 
time has received important additions, is 507 feet in 
length by 200 in extreme breadth, with a central 
tower 214 feet in height and two smaller ones 138 feet 
high. It has nine altars, and contains a variety of 
curious and interesting printed books and MS. which 
have been preserved from the eleventh century. The 
churches and cathedrals of those old days were not 
only expensive affairs, but the records show that their 
maintenance was along the most extravagant lines, 
the salary of a bishop being an enormous sum, and 
even as late as the eighteenth century his income was 
fixed at $40,000 per annum, and the total cost of 
church maintenance per year as late as 1834 was 
$185,000. Beside the cathedral, Durham has seven 
parish churches, all Protestant. The city contains but 
two manufactories of importance, a carpet factory and 
a large mill for the preparation of mustard. 

The population of Durham is only about 15,000, 
but its expenditures for public worship would not be 
warranted in any American city having 100,000 
inhabitants. There has been an evident decline in 
both wealth and population during the last two cen- 
turies. The high banks of the river, which we crossed 



DURHAM AND ITS CHURCHES. 31 

to reach the heart of the city, including the cathedral, 
were richly wooded and picturesque. Along these 
banks were well-kept paths, an old castle, old houses 
of ancient architecture, and terraced gardens, giving 
that portion of the city a unique appearance and 
eliminating all impressions of anything modern or 
up-to-date. Both the cathedral and the castle were 
made targets of by the guns of Oliver Cromwell in 
the 16th century. 

York, a quaint old city encircled in high walls first 
erected by the Romans, is a wonder to all strangers. 
The delightful irregularity of its streets, the odd archi- 
tecture of its old, old buildings, the abstracted infor- 
mality of the business places as having been perpet- 
uated for many centuries, furnish an open door to 
mysteries worth studying. Right in the center of the 
city I rode through a street barely wide enough for a 
single carriage, overhead the grim old bricks forming 
the fronts of the blocks, almost touched each other. 
As these single tracked streets admitted of no teams 
moving in opposite directions, progress was neces- 
sarily slow. The entire caravan must wait while the 
close-fisted housewife bargained for a paper of pins, a 
bunch of lettuce, or a sheep's head ; besides the neigh- 
borhood gossip must not suffer absolute neglect. 
Generations have come and gone, and yet these 
ancient fortresses seem to go on forever. To my 
question on entering a little eating house, "How long 
has this been occupied for this purpose?" came the 
reply, "I don't know, sir; I do know that it has been a 
public 'ouse for two hundred years, though." We 
were shown the first Parliament house built in 1160, 



32 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

the birthplace of Constantine, and the spot where the 
notorious Dick Turpin knocked a man down and was 
arrested and executed for a murder committed in 
London but a few hours before. This unique old city 
has 100,000 inhabitants, a majority of whom derive 
their support from the railroads; of course it has a 
cathedral, with the usual attraction. Our cab driver 
let out a sigh for another Oliver Cromwell to reform 
some of the dogmas of the present day. 

Peterborough, a city of something more than 
20,000 inhabitants, chiefly located in Northampton- 
shire on the river Nene, is seventy-six miles north of 
London, by the Great Northern Railway. This was 
our last stop before entering London. Built along 
the river on the north side, the streets are broad and 
straight, and contained many fine buildings. The 
first bridge over the Nene was erected in 1140, and 
the last in 1872. The cathedral of St. Peter is the 
third church that has occupied the present site, the 
first one being built in 1656 and destroyed by the 
barbarous Danes in 1670. The present cathedral was 
one hundred and twenty years in building, and is one 
of the three Norman cathedrals left standing in the 
kingdom. The peculiar features of the present build- 
ing gives it an architectural interest, though hardly 
entitled to a place among cathedrals of first rank. 
The extreme length of the building is 471 feet and 
breadth 156 feet. Cromwell's soldiers, in the 16th 
century, made a wreck of the property, by destroying 
the brass monument, burning the ancient records, 
leveling the altar and screen, defacing the windows 
and demolishing the cloisters. A portion of the cathe- 



DURHAM AND ITS CHURCHES. 33 

dral was taken down later to repair the damage done 
by the soldiers. The remains of Mary, Queen of Scots, 
were here interred in 1857, but twenty-five years later 
were removed to Westminster Abbey. 

Peterborough is a commercial city of some impor- 
tance. It sustains a large live stock market, where 
cattle, sheep and swine are purchased for London. 
Its educational establishments include a training col- 
lege for schoolmasters, a charity school established in 
1721. It has also benevolent institutions including a 
dispensary infirmary, almshouses, and a union work- 
house. A large trade in corn, coal, and timber is 
carried on. Its principal manufacture is in imple- 
ments of various kinds. Like Durham, the investment 
per capita in its public buildings is largely in excess of 
similar outlays in this country. With an established 
church, and a thousand years for collecting tithes, a 
show of capital in church property was bound to 
result. 

During the three hundred years that England was 
under Roman domination she was treated by her 
rulers as islanders, belonging to another world. For 
a long period after being relieved from the Roman 
yoke her fortunes hung in the balance. War of con- 
quest or of defence was almost unceasing. She was 
overrun by the Danes, and her internal strifes were 
hardly less bloody. Teutonic blood upon her soil was 
victorious, and the progeny of the Teutons have in a 
marked degree given character to, and shaped the 
destinies of the English people. 

To write a history of England covering the last 
eleven hundred years would be to write a history of 



34 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

civilization and its marvelous march, with all that 
pertains to growth of intellectual power, of wisdom, 
of raising mankind to higher levels, of the advance- 
ment of religious freedom, of elimination of savagery 
and cruelty, and of humane treatment of the van- 
quished and the promotion of better home life and 
better systems of government. In all of these, and in 
many others of a similar character, England, for the 
past five hundred years, has been a leader, and the 
most conspicuous in this work of any government or 
people. Her enterprise and her wars of conquest have 
added to her possessions in a degree that has kept her 
in the front rank as regards wealth and power. 



AGRICULTURAL PHASES AND COUNTRY 
SCENES IN ENGLAND 



LONDON A WORLD BY ITSELF— WESTMINSTER ABBEY— LONDON 

TOWER. 



Before entering London, a few words regarding 
the agricultural phases and landscapes of Great 
Britain. Scotland and England proved a delightful 
surprise. The deep fertility of the most of its soil, es- 
pecially the low lands, the systematic methodical pro- 
cesses of the farmers, the bountiful crops of wheat, 
oats, barley, hay and the various root crops, were a 
revelation. Unlike America the British isles are com- 
paratively free from drought. Nature deals bounti- 
fully with her moisture during the entire year, and the 
living green of her fields is a joy forever. The most of 
the country through both Scotland and England has a 
finished appearance. The fields are usually small, the 
walls separating them are in fine repair, the roads are 
all narrow and perfect in their construction, and the 
live stock without exception is well bred and well fed. 
There is no haphazard farming in Great Britain ; crops 
do not come by chance, but by the pursuit and by 
virtue of well settled, well established principles. 
Opportunities for domestic enjoyment in the rural 
districts of Great Britain are almost unlimited as 
relates to the well-to-do classes. There are thousands 
of fine old estates which seem to offer every comfort 
that heart could wish. The residences are usually 
located on an eminence commanding complete view 

35 



36 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

of the broad acres under cultivation. There are no rail 
fences to mar the beauty of the landscapes. Pastures 
without numerous shade trees are an exception, and 
a dense grove of forest, fruit and ornamental trees near 
the country seat is the rule. Instead of the large bank 
barns to be found in our best agricultural districts, 
groups of stacks, ranging from five to thirty in num- 
ber, all skillfully and carefully thatched, are in evi- 
dence as proof of the high prices of building material 
and low price of labor. A long letter could be written 
giving methods for converting the crops of hay and 
straw into fertilizer of approved quality, of its effect 
upon the meadows producing three to four tons of 
hay per acre for fifty successive years, but space 
forbids. Many a lesson could be taken in the British 
Isles with profit to American agriculturists. 

Our locomotive had a long pull through the 
suburbs of London, there were miles and miles and 
acres and acres of brick tenement houses as near alike 
as two peas in a pod. From the depot where we 
landed it was three miles to Westminster Palace (our 
hotel) and covering this distance gave us but a faint 
conception of the vastness of London with its five or 
six million inhabitants and the greatest city of 
the world. London, in fact, is a world of itself. 
It seems like an aggregation of large cities. You 
can ride for days and days, from center to center 
of population. You may keep going until you think 
you are acquainted with its highways and byways, 
only to find that you have just begun. London moves 
its population mainly with omnibuses and cabs, one 
bus company owning 8,000 horses with busses enough 



AGRICULTURAL PHASES IN ENGLAND. 37 

carrying twenty-six persons, sixteen on top and ten 
inside, to employ them. The horses are the best that 
money will buy for this purpose, each driver has six 
teams allotted him, which work from two to two and 
a half hours a day, the bus fare being from two to four 
cents of American money for each passenger accord- 
ing to the distance traveled. All horses have free rein 
and wear as little harness as possible. Many of them 
are from Chicago, and gray is the predominating 
color. The subterranean roads of the city, both 
trolley and steam cars, do an immense business. 
London, unlike New York, has no sky-scrapers; there 
is a striking uniformity in the height and architecture 
of her business properties. The thing perhaps which 
makes the deepest impression on a stranger in the 
great city is the living, moving swarms of humanity 
to be seen on the leading business streets. Who they 
are and where they are going is a constant wonder- 
ment. That there are numberless places to go is 
patent to every stranger. The cheapest thing in 
London is a ride in one of these "Tuppenny Busses. ,, 
If, after ascending its corkscrew staircase in the rear 
of the huge affair, you are so fortunate as to find an 
empty seat near the driver, a flood of information 
always on tap can be obtained for a nimble sixpence. 
From the fearful experience of a London fog to 
the horrors of Whitechapel, the dangers of a night 
excursion through Drury Lane or John street or the 
gorgeous displays during Christmas week to be seen 
in Fleet street or the Strand, or any other lines of 
information, pump the driver to your heart's content. 
When limbered up he is a fund of information, an 



38 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

encyclopaedia eclipsing all guide books, not excepting 
Baedecker's. Human endurance is hardly a match for 
an investment of an English shilling in two penny 
rides. In Chicago or New York a "Bus" conductor 
collects fifty cents for a ride from the depot to your 
hotel. In London you could, for fifty cents, ride from 
morning till night. But the endless panorama as 
viewed from these elevated seats is a continuous feast. 
There is the contrast between disorder, squalor, con- 
fusion, chaos and misrule, and wealth, elegance, bril- 
liancy and all that equips and characterizes royalty. 
Poverty, misery, plenty and luxury are in close prox- 
imity. But a stone's throw from the highest to the 
lowest of human standards, from dense ignorance and 
brutal instincts to culture, refinement and all that 
exalts civilized life. It was our good fortune to be 
located across the way from Westminster Abbey, the 
spot around which clusters more interesting bio- 
graphy, more historical reminiscence and more senti- 
ment concerning humanity in general than can be 
found in any other spot on the globe of similar 
dimensions. 

Westminster Abbey has for centuries been the 
resting place of nobility, kings, queens, lords and 
dukes, generals, men of letters, including all the poet- 
laureates, and the great preachers of England. In the 
long list of noted men I recall, was Watts, the famous 
divine, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, Lord 
Palmerston, Lord Mansfield, Warren Hastings, 
Richard Cobden, Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, 
Lord Macaulay, W. M. Thackeray, Joseph Addison, 
Oliver Goldsmith, John Milton, Thomas Campbell, 
Charles Dickens, Bulwer Lytton, Livingston, Stanley, 



AGRICULTURAL PHASES IN ENGLAND. 39 

Sir Robert Walpole, Jenny Lind, Chatham, Dryden, 
Ben Jonson, Cowper, Disraeli, Gladstone, the two last 
being among- the most famous of the queen's premiers. 
America is honored by the busts of Longfellow, 
Lowell, Whittier and others. This list could be ex- 
tended to almost any length. To find room for the 
hundreds of honored dead has taxed the capacity of 
the Abbey, large and extensive as it is. The marble 
floors have been removed to find room, or to make 
place for the nation's illustrious sons and daughters. 
Since the construction of the Abbey in the thirteenth 
century, it has ever been regarded a mark of honor 
and special privilege to find a resting place within its 
walls. The beauty of the Abbey long since vanished. 
Its architecture was never pleasing, and I doubt if the 
old structure was ever accused of being symmetrical 
or comely. Its grimy walls are in streaks assuming an 
inky blackness and the rapid deterioration of the 
marble is causing much solicitude. There is an awe- 
inspired gloom pervading the vast recesses of this 
great sepulchre that is anything but cheerful, but its 
solemnity tends to inspire reverence. Services are 
being carried on most of the time in some part of the 
Abbey, and to give an adequate account of the inter- 
ests centered there would require much more space 
than I can afford. 

London Tower (in charge of a corpulent squad of 
Englishmen dressed in scarlet and known as "beef 
eaters") consists of an irregular promiscuous class of 
buildings, covering thirteen acres, and attracts more 
attention than anything else in London. It is sur- 
rounded by a battlemented wall and wide deep ditch, 



40 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

which, previous to a half century ago, was kept filled 
with water from the Thames not far away. 

The tower or series of towers, consisting of at least 
a dozen distinct structures, has four entrances, namely, 
the Iron gate, the Water gate, the Traitor's gate and 
Lion's gate. 

The construction of this mighty fortress was begun 
in the tenth century, and, during the feudal days 
through which England passed, was used for a prison. 
It now answers the purpose of an armory and store- 
house where great quantities of government property 
is kept. In one room through which we were shown 
were the crown jewels enclosed in a large glass case. 
Our guide informed us that they represented the 
enormous value of $17,000,000, $5,000,000 of which 
were owned by Queen Victoria. There are coats-of- 
arms, busts and statues of leading statesmen, of gen- 
erals on horseback, of dukes and lords, too numerous 
for enumeration. The walls of the towers range from 
eight to eleven feet thick, the windows are small and 
heavily grated, the stairways and the halls are narrow, 
dusky and glum. Nearly every room has a sickening 
history, written in blood. It was here that in the 
middle ages were confined kings, queens, dukes and 
lords, many of them under indictment for treason, who 
paid the penalty with their lives. A charge of treason 
was usually followed by the suspected persons being 
beheaded; in many cases most inhuman torture was 
resorted to to extort confession, even skinning alive, 
the most cruel resort of the barbarian, became a part 
of the black record. 

In the bloody tower the two sons of Edward IV 



AGRICULTURAL PHASES IN ENGLAND. 41 

were murdered by order of Richard III. We were 
shown the room where Lady Jane Gray, the beautiful 
queen, was imprisoned previous to her execution. We 
listened to the blood curdling story of the execution 
of her husband early in the morning ; the account of 
the executioner parading in front of her window with 
the head of her husband erected on a stick, and later 
in the day of her being led out to the block and decap- 
itated. The ax and the block are sfill on exhibition, 
where the lives of thousands of so-called traitors went 
out. The fifteenth century witnessed the climax of 
treachery, malice and hate, of soulless cruelty and 
inhuman practices. During that century there were 
beheaded Thomas Moore, Queen Anne Boleyn, 
Thomas Cromwell, Queen Catherine Howard, Lord 
Admiral Seymour, Lord Guilford Dudley, Sir John 
Elliot, and hosts of others, conspicuous in the annals 
of history. 

Queen Elizabeth was confined as a prisoner in one 
of the rooms, and for exercise she was allowed to walk 
on the top of the walls, the spot being pointed out to 
our party. The room where Guy Fawkes, the chief 
conspirator of the plot to blow up the Houses of 
Parliament, was confined, revived the recollection of 
that sensational event which shocked the civilized 
world. Fawkes paid a dear penalty for the crime. To 
make his death as impressive as possible, he was re- 
quired to write his name before being tortured and 
again after the sufferings of torture. These two signa- 
tures were exhibited throughout Europe, and made a 
part of European history. The effect of becoming 
associated with the frightful horrors enacted a few 



42 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

centuries ago is not pleasant, but no man can listen to 
these tales of blood without being impressed with the 
fact that the world is growing better, that human life 
has in the last five hundred years become much more 
sacred, that human rights are better guarded, that 
humanity has broadened, deepened and become more 
intense. It was difficult for me to realize, while sur- 
rounded with these evidences of cruelty and arbitrary 
power, that the scenes referred to were enacted by the 
same government which is credited with doing more 
for the spread of the gospel, for enlightening the 
ignorant, for eliminating superstition and for raising 
the standards of humanity and Christianity than any 
other civilized government ; truly the world is making 
progress, and London tower so long used for a prison, 
now a storehouse, evidences the fact. 



THE VASTNESS OF LONDON 



POOR PEOPLE'S MARKET— LONDON BANK AND CRYSTAL PALACE 
—ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL— HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT. 



St. Paul's Cathedral, the resting place of Generals 
Nelson and Wellington, is exceeded in size only by 
St. Peter's, of Rome, and the eighth wonder of the 
world at Milan. It rises 364 feet out of the most 
populous and one of the most central business por- 
tions of London. St. Paul's is 500 feet long, more 
than 100 feet wide and a marvel of magnificence and 
beauty. This greatest temple to Protestantism was 
erected 200 years ago, and the established church of 
England may well take pride in its elegance. We 
attended service there on Sabbath morning, and for 
two hours listened to the music from its great organ, 
the chants, responsive readings, and the choruses of 
200 voices composing the choir. At 12 o'clock (the 
hour when all Americans attending divine service 
think that there is no place like home) the sermon at 
St. Paul's commenced. In the congregation there 
was a commendable absence of everything hinting of 
caste. The rich and the poor worshipped side by side, 
each and all occupying seats which were lacking in 
display or comfort. 

The crystal palace at Sydenham, one of the 
suburbs of London, is worthy of at least half a day of 
every visitor's time. Erected in 1851 and composed 
entirely of glass and iron, it attracted the attention of 
the entire civilized world. It was built for exposition 

43 



44 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

purposes. Within the walls may be found a generous 
supply of the products of nature and art. Portions of 
the building are divided into courts. There is the 
Grecian, Roman, Italian, Moorish, Oriental and 
others, each filled with the handiwork of their respec- 
tive countries. Its length is more than 1,600 feet, 
width an average of 200 feet, and height ranging from 
110 to 282 feet. The grounds attached comprise 
about 200 acres, embracing beautiful landscapes, 
fountains, flower gardens, shrubbery, cascades and 
everything attractive that money could pay for. 

Inside is an opera house, theatre, concert halls, a 
great gallery, with an immense collection of statuary, 
choice paintings and busts of eminent men of all 
nations. There are stalls filled with all sorts of knick- 
knacks, toys on sale, and the list of the world's curi- 
osities, prehistoric and otherwise, is inconceivably 
large. As a place for recreation Londoners are liberal 
patrons. 

The London bank, covering four acres of land, is 
an enduring monument to what has long been the 
financial center of the world. Its external walls are 
entirely destitute of windows, absolute security being 
the excuse. It is lighted from the inner courts. The 
bank was founded nearly two hundred years ago, and 
is the only bank in London having the authority to 
issue paper money. There is usually stored in its 
vaults not less than $100,000,000 in gold. The paper 
issued never leaves the bank but once. It is cancelled 
on receipt, and in due time destroyed. This bank acts 
as the agent of the government in all transactions 
connected with the national debt, now amounting to 



THE VASTNESS OF LONDON. 45 

650,000,000 pounds sterling. The government of the 
bank is vested in a governor, a deputy governor, and 
twenty-four directors. More than 1,000 persons find 
employment within its walls. Its location is the chief 
point of convergence of the London omnibus traffic. 

An interesting half day was spent in the zoological 
garden at Regents Park. This park embraces nearly 
500 acres of ground, and numbers an immense variety 
of wild animals, birds, fish, etc., collected from all 
parts of the globe. An African giraffe amused us by 
eating leaves from a tree 16 feet from the ground. 
There were hippopotamus with mouths that you never 
could forget, rhinoceroses with hides and horns mak- 
ing them a terror, lions and tigers exhibiting all the 
ferocity shown in their native forests in Africa. There 
were monkeys and monkeys. Even the connecting 
link was pointed out. Serpents, from the tiny harm- 
less garter snake to the great yellow and black python 
twenty-eight feet in length and two feet in circumfer- 
ence. On the whole an exhibition not calculated to 
produce peaceful, silent slumber. The Strand, Picca- 
dilly and Charing Cross, the museums, the parks and. 
the numerous monuments can only receive a passing 
notice. Volumes could be written describing the 
sights in and around these centers of population. Old 
Bailey, the ancient prison of London, still stands, with 
its memorable record and historical reminiscence. 

London bridge, although rivaled with many other 
bridges across the Thames, retains its proud prestige, 
being the leading highway. By actual count 22,000 
teams and 110,000 people compose the number cross- 
ing this old structure during twenty-four hours. A 



46 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

visit to the poor people's market, or a market supply- 
ing many of the poor of London, was not without its 
lessons. Here was an exhibition of what poverty 
does. Men, women and children clothed in tatters, 
dirty and half nourished, with their scanty purses were 
in attendance. Two or three hundred cast off, half 
worn or well worn garments piled on the sidewalk in 
a heap, and a little further on perhaps five bushels of 
old boots and shoes in another pile were being rum- 
maged through for fits for the body and fits for the 
meager purses. 

The meat stalls seemed to be stocked with the 
refuse from better markets, and with varieties which 
could be purchased cheap. The dialect of this poverty 
stricken, uneducated people was to me amazing. I 
was unable to understand but little of the gibberish 
used by the salesmen crying off their wares, and the 
gossip of the old ladies, who made the market do a 
dual purpose, to me was unintelligible. 

These poor districts offer a phase of life in the 
market places on Saturday evening that no tourist can 
afford to miss. From 8 p. m. until midnight, a swarm 
of humanity of all ages congregate. It is a sort of 
half holiday for laboring people, and mixed with their 
purchases of family supplies are generous quantities 
of drink, adding to the hilarity of the occasion. Men, 
women and children, especially children, contribute 
to the babel of voices, and the vegetables, fish, fruits 
and crockery, cheap clothing, boots, shoes, etc., are 
bartered for in loud accents and rank confusion. 

Into the great stomach of London has passed 
and remains undigested many a hamlet that today 



THE VASTNESS OF LONDON. 47 

retains a semblance of its original identity, or has 
failed to accept the London idea of modern architec- 
ture. The ancient style of village residences, of 
country business places, and the little church around 
the corner are still occupied by the plain people in the 
very heart of the great metropolis. 

The discipline of the police force of London is 
excellent. They have complete control of the crush 
of teams on the leading thoroughfares at all times, 
and crossing the street at midday in charge of or 
under the eye of a policeman is easily done, although 
it looks a hazardous business. A half dozen iron posts 
two feet high, set in a group three feet apart in the 
middle of the principal crossings, offer refuge to the 
swarms of pedestrians fleeing from the caravan of 
carriages and busses. It would require consummate 
skill to throw a stone near the heart of the great 
metropolis and avoid hitting a monument. Kings, 
queens and heroes have for centuries been finding 
conspicuous positions on the leading thoroughfares 
of London, that is, there have been erected to the 
memory of the illustrious dead monuments which 
will long endure. Queen Victoria erected to her 
beloved husband, Prince Albert, a structure costing 
$600,000 and the finest in Great Britain. 

Buckingham Palace, an immense gathering of 
brick and marble, and long the home of Queen Vic- 
toria, has never dazed Americans with its beauty nor 
impressed the average architect with its comeliness. 
It would be a poor rival for any one of a hundred 
residences which might be selected in New York. 
Were it protected by some ornamental trees and 



48 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

relieved by a grass plat, it would seem much more 
homelike. Marlborough House, not far away, and 
the London residence of King Edward, retains its 
original identity. London abounds in fine hotels. 
Their management differs, however, from American 
hostelries. 

The head porter of a London hotel is a sort of 
field marshal, giving direction to the servants, both 
in and out of the house, giving the guests a shake of 
the hand when they arrive, a shake when they leave, 
and at all times shaking as many tips out of their 
clothes as possible. The cost of living at the best 
houses reach high figures. In fact the style of living 
in London, similar to our own, whether first, second 
or third rate, is more expensive than in the cities of 
America. A table de hote dinner costing a dollar in 
New York costs one dollar and a half in London, 
while a lunch which would cost thirty cents in Elyria 
and twenty cents in San Francisco, would in London 
cost fifty to sixty cents. A suit of ready-made cloth- 
ing cannot be bought cheaper in Great Britain or on 
the continent than in Elyria, although tailor made 
garments cost much less. The tariff paid on goods in 
America, and extra cost of cutting and making, 
representing the difference. Stores filled with Amer- 
ican clothing, and American boots and shoes exclu- 
sively, were among the familiar sights in the busy 
marts of London. The Parliament houses, bathed in an 
atmosphere of royalty and statesmanship, had suffered 
a temporary surrender to myriads of doves, they call 
them pigeons. The roofs, the cornice, in fact every 
nook and corner of these immense piles of marble 



THE VASTNESS OF LONDON. 49 

were in possession of the birds. Unfortunately Par- 
liament was not in session, and the dignified land- 
marks who stood on guard swelled with their impor- 
tance, seemed to revel in our disappointment. 

To comprehend London requires an enlarged 
vision. From the London bank, centrally located, 
there is fifteen miles of solid city to the India docks. 
The population of the great metropolis is nearly fifty 
per cent more than the whole state of Ohio. London 
has survived fire and pestilence, and is said to be 
growing faster than ever. The city has a multitude 
of well-disposed vagrants, thousands of social rem- 
nants of society ignorant of where the next meal is 
coming from, while the relics of misspent lives of the 
Micawber sort assist in making up the miscellaneous 
contingent. 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE CONTINENT 



BRUSSELS THE BEAUTIFUL, CITY— WATERLOO— SERFDOM AND 
LOW WAGES OF THE BELGIANS. 



From London to Dover, a distance of seventy- 
eight miles, was through a densely populated coun- 
try. We were rarely out of sight of either a city, 
village or hamlet. 

The physical aspects of the country differ but little 
from the central portions of England, but, in addition 
to agricultural pursuits, manufacturing employs a ma- 
jority of the people. Chatham, the largest town on 
the route, old and finished, has an air of comfort, and 
its numerous church spires were in harmony with 
other cities throughout the kingdom. The English 
at home are a church-going people, not only are their 
churches well attended, but the audiences of their 
street preachers holding forth on the leading thor- 
oughfares of London were large. Evangelists and 
reformers are having a desperate struggle with de- 
pravity and immorality existing in the slums of the 
great cities. While the combat in some localities 
seems to be an unequal one, the sincerity and devo- 
tion of these advocates of Christianity and temper- 
ance are making a deep impression. 

Loyalty to the rulers and to the government 
throughout the kingdom is a leading characteristic 
of the people of England. The good order existing 
and the prompt punishment of criminals reflect this 

60 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE CONTINENT. 51 

loyalty and assist in making what is known as a 
"strong government." 

As we approached Dover the immense chalk-beds, 
white as the driven snow, furnished a unique attrac- 
tion. 

With a babel of foreign tongues as we approached 
the English channel our party of tourists began to 
have troubles of their own. Peculiar English dialects 
were exchanged for German and French languages. 
To understand and to be understood required 
patience, perseverance and long-suffering. 

There is little to be said of Dover except its sub- 
stantial appearance as the most conspicuous port on 
the English channel. Our trip from Dover to Os- 
tend, a distance of 70 miles, was covered in three- 
and-a-half hours. We had sunshine, gentle breezes 
and smooth seas. Ostend, the leading port of Bel- 
gium, is not only a health resort but a beautiful city 
with magnificent hotels. It is paved and its streets 
are kept scrupulously clean. King Leopold spends 
a good share of his summers there, taking in the sea 
breezes. 

Visiting their public market at five p. m. we 
found both country and city people anxiously waiting 
for customers for their vegetables, fruit, butter, 
cheese, eggs, etc. The stalls were usually in charge 
of women, and where buyers were lacking these mar- 
ket women were filling up the time by sewing or 
knitting. 

Our ride to Brussels was robbed of all interest by 
being taken in the night. Upon arrival our party was 
packed into vehicles strongly resembling open street 



52 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

cars, which instead of being propelled upon steel rails 
went rattling "over the stony streets." There was no 
sound of revelry in this, Belgium's capital. One pair 
of horses, with huge bodies and legs to correspond, 
finally landed us at the Hotel Empereaur, an exten- 
sive hostelry giving a fair service. 

Brussels has a population of about 300,000 in- 
habitants, is a beautiful city, said to be an imitation 
of Paris as near as possible. It abounds in white 
buildings of modern architecture, but unlike Paris all 
its streets are wholesomely clean and its public build- 
ings and business places all have a neat, tidy appear- 
ance. Brussels is the metropolis of the carpet and 
lace industries. Its carpets and fine laces leading in 
all the markets of the world. 

Its palace of justice costing $10,000,000, located 
on a high elevation, is said to be the largest building 
of its kind in existence. There is no lack of extrava- 
gance in its construction, and while not strikingly at- 
tractive in architecture, its finish is superb. The 
streets and boulevards of the city are broad, well 
paved and well kept. Its long boulevard extending 
to a magnificent park has six rows of forest trees 
(mostly sycamore) neatly trimmed. Between these 
rows of trees there are two broad walks, a wide track 
for horseback riders and two broad streets for vehi- 
cles. It is doubtful whether a finer boulevard can be 
found in either Europe or America. Its park system 
is very extensive, embracing thousands of acres of 
undulating forest, partially improved. Within the 
confines of the forest elegant buildings have been 
erected where sportsmen and seekers of pleasure 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE CONTINENT. 53 

along various lines are entertained. There are con- 
cert halls, restaurants, etc. A leading characteristic 
of the Belgians is their tendency to pleasure-seeking. 
Our visit included memorial day for King Leopold, 
and all the better classes seemed to be out for a good 
time. There was music, fireworks, and hilarity every- 
where, which the ruddy-faced king seemed to enjoy. 
The drinking of beer and light wines in Brussels is 
beyond American conception. The saloons, restau- 
rants and hotels from four p. m. until midnight are not 
only crowded, but the broad walks in front of the 
drinking places were literally covered with tables and 
chairs filled with the best classes of people coming by 
families to indulge in the native drinks. On Sunday 
the business places were all open and apparently well 
patronized. The church that our party visited was 
but slimly attended. For the first time in my experi- 
ence the usher handed back one-half of my small con- 
tribution. 

Brussels boasts of one of the finest art galleries in 
the world. Some of Rubens' best efforts are upon 
its walls. Its Bourse, one of the leading financial in- 
stitutions of the world, is a stately affair, and unlike 
her houses of Parliament, is handsome, being con- 
structed of granite and highly ornamented with rich 
carving. It has a tower 370 feet in height. 

In one of the small squares of the city was pointed 
out the spot where 2,000 soldiers were buried, who 
were killed in the revolution of 1830. 

Waterloo, twelve miles away, is preserved as a 
revenue getter. Some of the land marks, which re- 
call the memorable battle of June 18, 1815, are to be 



54 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

seen. Whether the accommodating guide possessed 
a high order of integrity is another question, at any 
rate he made a pretense of all the knowledge needed 
and told a plausible story. 

Few Americans visit Brussels without making the 
trip to Waterloo and having the satisfaction of seeing 
the spot where the army of the great Napoleon was 
crushed by Wellington and where the fate of nations 
was at least temporarily settled by the sword. 

Belgium, one of the smallest kingdoms of Europe, 
of which Brussels is the capital, at the last federal 
census had about 485 people to the square mile. It 
is the most densely populated country in Europe. 
Brussels seems to have gathered in her full share of 
the Belgians, its streets during the day are congested 
and the evidences of overpopulation are numerous; 
wages are down to starvation prices, a good man put- 
ting in full time — for work on the streets — receives 
from 40 to 50 cents per day. A first-class servant girl 
50 cents per week or $2.00 a month. The woman 
who from morning until night was down on her knees 
scrubbing the floors of our hotel, and the sidewalk in 
front of the house, received therefor an equivalent of 
ten cents of our money, the same wages being paid 
to the muscular young woman with short dress, 
wooden shoes, and a bare head, bearing a neck-yoke 
on her shoulders to which was attached two large 
cans of milk, which she peddled from door to door, 
and also to the woman in charge of a dog-cart, her 
duty being to give the faithful dog direction where to 
go with his unwieldy load and to assist him up the 
inclines and over the rough places. To the shame of 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE CONTINENT. 55 

the beautiful city I have described the peasantry is 
subjected to burdens which should be borne by the 
beasts, and their small compensation is a disgrace to 
civilization. 

Brussels is abreast with the leading countries of 
Europe in respect to the arts and sciences. It has 
traditions in which it takes pride, but it seems to be 
woefully lacking in respect and sympathy for the 
poorer classes. A civilized country that in this en- 
lightened age places its burdens upon the women and 
the dogs needs to be regenerated. I was informed 
that women in Belgium have no rights which the 
lords of creation are bound to respect. The girls, 
which by hundreds are employed in the lace factories, 
receive from 20 to 30 cents a day for their skilled 
labor. 

In their bright faces there were traces of despond- 
ency. They seemed to be living without hope, while 
the product of their brains and their fingers adorns 
the wealthy classes wherever civilization has obtained 
a foothold. Common laborers are mere serfs eking 
out a scanty subsistence. There was wildness notice- 
able in the eyes of many, suggestive of anarchy. I 
left Brussels with a feeling that it was a many-sided 
city. Much to commend and much to criticise. Op- 
portunities for young men to rise in the world seemed 
to be limited to a few of the favored classes. The 
kitchens, workshops and farms of America could' 
give profitable employment to thousands of her 
ruddy-faced young men and women, who at home 
subsist along the ragged edges of charity. If some 
enterprising Yankee would import a few thousand of 



56 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

these women and girls to be employed in American 
families he would earn the gratitude of both coun- 
tries. 

Our three days stay in Brussels ended July 23rd, 
and our long ride to Cologne was as tedious as can 
be imagined. 

The methods for shipping cattle in America are 
better regulated, more systematic and more satisfac- 
tory to the shipper than the practices adhered to on 
the continent for handling tourists as regards time. 

It was our misfortune after crossing the English 
channel to be confined to transportation over rail- 
roads owned by the respective governments. The 
trains are all in charge of soldiers, and these brilliant 
vagabonds, puffed up by their regimentals, are uncivil, 
ungentlemanly and arbitrary. Government owner- 
ship destroys competition and gives a fatal stab to 
progress. Our conductor at Brussels made a strenu- 
ous request that we be landed at Cologne by a cer- 
tain hour. The manager replied, "We have but three 
American locomotives, if I can secure one of them 
we can make the time, if not it will be impossible." 
We failed to get the American machine, and the dead 
and alive train under the heat of a burning sun pro- 
ceeded at gravel-train speed occupying a full day, 
long-to-be-remembered. 

The country between these two cities is a marvel 
of productiveness to most Americans, its high order 
of agriculture, its crops of wheat, oats, barley, rye 
and all root crops were amazing; eighty bushels of 
wheat per acre, a crop never to be thought of in 
America, is said upon good authority to be common 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE CONTINENT. 57 

in Germany and Belgium. Such maximums are only 
attained by the highest grade of fertility, the most 
diligent processes of cultivation, and the use of the 
most productive varieties of grain. A friend informed 
me that he had seen women and children in the wheat 
fields during the month of May stirring the ground 
between the rows of wheat with narrow hoes to pro- 
mote the growth of the plant. 

The best crops of grain to be seen along this route 
were lodged and twisted into all sorts of tangles which 
to an American farmer would suggest ruin to his 
crop, but in Germany, for some unexplained reason, 
interferes but little with the yield of grain. The face 
of this old, old country is in striking contrast with 
Britain. The farming lands are divided into small 
squares generally ranging from V<\. acre to two acres 
in size. 

There are no fences dividing the fields, but the 
\ariety of crops under cultivation make an attractive 
landscape, reminding you of a checker board. These 
little patches of land are usually owned by as many 
people as there are pieces. An acre is supposed to 
produce enough to supply a family of ordinary size 
with bread and vegetables for a year. 



THE GERMANS IN THE "VATERLAND" 



PERFUMED WATER— CATHEDRAL-CHURCH OF URSULA— CHARMS 
OF THE RHINE— HEIDELBERG. 



The German peasantry is thoroughly schooled in 
the precepts and practices of rural and social econ- 
omy. The bent of their lives is in the direction of 
the largest possible production of the necessities of 
life, and the most economical consumption of the 
same. No thought of luxury or extravagance enters 
into their calculations. Their habitations are neither 
luxurious, attractive, nor homelike. Generally rather 
long, one-story brick houses, located in groups, mak- 
ing a little hamlet, where a store or two obviates the 
necessity of a tramp to a large town for supplies. The 
brick in the houses are of motley and unsightly varie- 
ties, being a mixture of red and black. 

Usually the live stock owned by the proprietor is 
housed under the same roof with his family, it being 
the duty of the wife and children to care for the same. 

One of our party (a lady teacher from Youngs- 
town) managed, by paying a little fee, to gain admit- 
tance to one of these farm houses, where she took an 
account of stock. Here is her report: "Ground floor 
in six apartments; first room contained agricultural 
implements ; second, six cows ; third, six calves and 
one horse; fourth, stair case, and beyond this the 
kitchen ; fifth, dining room, in which was one table 
without cloth, and around it sat six men and two 



THE GERMANS IN THE "VATERLAND." 59 

women ; in center of table, one large flask of wine, 
one large loaf of barley bread and one butcher knife — 
each individual cut his own bread and drank from the 
flask at his pleasure — sixth, bedroom, two beds, husk 
mattresses upon them, and feather ticks, and also 
feather cover. Floors of stone in brick form, or of 
heavy plank and very clean. Second story contained 
bedrooms, and hay above stalls." 

Cows are the principal beasts of burden in the 
farming communities of Germany. In the morning 
after being milked she is hitched to the cart, the plow, 
or the harrow, and generally under the guiding hand 
of the mistress of the household performs an honest 
day's labor submissively. She is usually well fed, well 
groomed and slick. It was not rare to see her calf 
follow in the furrow behind the plow. 

I saw more women than men at work in the fields 
in Germany. In the harvest fields the women handle 
the sickle and scythes with as much skill and dexterity 
as the men. Their bare heads, brown faces, short 
dresses, wooden shoes, evidence their industry and 
familiarity with the hard side of life. The above de- 
scription refers only to the German peasantry or the 
poorer classes. There is another class of farmers who 
live like Nabobs. They have fine houses, elegant sur- 
roundings and fare sumptuously every day. The 
German empire requires for its standing army more 
than 1,000,000 men, leaving a surplus of its female 
population at home. 

The rents to be paid for their land ranges from 
$7.00 to $15.00 an acre, according to quality and 
location. This is a potent levy upon the vitality and 



60 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

endurance of the German peasantry. These people 
are intelligent, and the compulsory system of educa- 
tion in Germany fits large numbers for a better sta- 
tion than they are able to obtain in the "Vaterland." 
Students of sociology studying the habits and cus- 
toms of the Germans readily account for the fact that 
German immigrants to America become a leading 
factor in the thrift and prosperity of this country. 

It is said, that in spite of her scanty resources 
and unfortunate environments in their native land, 
that the most of them manage to accumulate enough 
to meet the demands of old age. This thrift was 
demonstrated during the Franco-Prussian war when 
German bonds were largely taken by its peasantry. 

As is well known Germany is one of the leading 
manufacturing countries of Europe. Little villages 
with numberless smoke stacks are to be found in all 
parts of the empire, and these villages furnish a home 
market and fair prices for the products of the farm. 

America of late years has so often trampled upon 
German toes by forcing her manufactured products 
upon the German markets that a feeling of resent- 
ment against American competition exists through- 
out that country. Their prejudice against Americans 
was noticeable, especially among the higher classes of 
the kingdom. 

Cologne, a city of 300,000 inhabitants, located on 
the Rhine, is the capital of Rhineish Prussia. It is con- 
nected with the town of Dutz on the opposite bank 
of the Rhine by a bridge of boats and an elegant iron 
bridge 1,362 feet in length. The streets of Cologne 
are narrow, crooked and well paved. Public build- 



THE GERMANS IN THE "VATERLAND." 61 

ings are many, including charitable and educational 
institutions. The city was organized in the third cen- 
tury, and during its early history it was the scene of 
carnage, bloodshed, barbarism and cruelty. The 
church of St. Ursula gets its distinction by being the 
place where are preserved the bones of 11,000 virgins, 
companions of St. Ursula, who were slaughtered by 
the "Huns" because they refused to violate their vows 
of chastity. Thousands of these bones are on exhibi- 
tion, covering the walls of some of the rooms in this 
ancient sepulchre or church. 

The principal object of interest in Cologne, as 
well as one of the greatest ornaments of Europe, is 
its Cathedral, a rare specimen of Gothic architecture. 
The eighth century witnessed the partial erection of 
the Cathedral which was burned in 1248. More than 
600 years was required for the rebuilding of the new 
Cathedral, which was begun immediately after the 
destruction of the old one. The final completion of 
the towers took place in 1880. The highest pinnacle, 
512 feet from the ground, beats all records, reaching 
farther toward heaven than any other church spire in 
the world. The body of the church measures 500 feet 
in length, 230 feet in breadth, and the cost of the 
structure is estimated at $10,000,000. The Cathedral 
is symmetrical, well balanced and elegant. The city 
is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. 

Cologne, like many European cities, has smells 
of its own. Nearly 200 years ago, if legendry is 
to be credited, one John Maria Farina invent- 
ed a perfumed water to counteract the bad 
odors of the city. His cologne acquired a commer- 



62 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

cial importance even to the ends of the earth, and al- 
though "J onn " long since passed to the great beyond, 
his invention continues to fill the cash boxes of at 
least forty of the manufacturers and wholesale dealers 
in the genuine article. Near the banks of the Rhine 
is a square composed of several acres devoted to mar- 
ket purposes, a place where country produce is of- 
fered for sale. There were many things comical or 
unique and interesting to Americans connected with 
this layout. The fruits and garden truck, spreading 
over acres of ground, were usually in charge of 
women, portly and well developed. Hundreds of dog 
carts heavily loaded arrived upon the scene from the 
nearby farms before daylight in the morning, and the 
dogs by their continuous barking made an interesting 
case for the would-be morning sleepers in the im- 
mediate neighborhood. 

Dog-muscle in Germany is appreciated as highly 
as horse-muscle in America. No regard seems to be 
had for blood, as brindle dogs and yellow dogs are 
as common and as useful as any other ; they are suit- 
ably harnessed and hitched to their load immediately 
under the front end of the cart, and their strength or 
power to handle a large load is an amazement. They 
are not only beasts of burden in the discharge of an 
important duty, but are watch dogs on guard ready 
at all times to protect the property they handle. 

Our ride of 115 miles on the Rhine from Cologne 
to Mayence upon a well ordered steamer of light 
draught, was thoroughly enjoyable. The bright sun- 
shine, the blue sparkling water, the scenery along the 
banks contributed to a charm never to be forgotten. 



THE GERMANS IN THE "VATERLAND." 63 

The Rhine, fed by the eternal snows on the mountain- 
peaks in the far distance, has a greater volume of 
water in mid-summer than at any other season of the 
year, as it is then the blazing sun makes its deepest 
impresion upon the glaciers and eternal snows of the 
Alps. Thousands of tributaries combine to make the 
magnificent flow of the Rhine in its northward course. 
The banks reaching up hundreds of feet on either side 
made a ceaseless and ever-changing panorama to be 
studied and admired. Castles in ruins and otherwise, 
that' during the feudal days protected the robber 
barons, were constantly in sight ; from these strong- 
holds during the middle-ages land pirates would 
swoop down upon the navigators of the Rhine, rob 
without mercy and retreat to the castles with their 
plunder, where, owing to the absence of latter-day 
munitions of war, their walls were impregnable. Cas- 
tles are not the only ancient landmarks ; villages and 
small cities erected entirely of stone could be seen 
upon the highest peaks facing the Rhine in partial 
or utter ruin ; many of them seem to be without an 
inhabitant, tumbling down and going to decay ; other 
cities, many of them extending down to the waters' 
edge, of more recent origin, had an air of thrift and 
importance. Bonn, the birthplace of Beethoven, the 
illustrious musician ; Bingen, the home of the soldier- 
boy of whose death the poet Norton gives such a 
touching account, are cities of commercial prosper- 
ity. But the principal attraction of the Rhine is in its 
terraces along the banks, sometimes numbering as 
many as fifteen, one above another. It is here that 
the German peasant demonstrates the value of land 



64 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

for fruit and agricultural purposes. To get a foot- 
hold, first the shrubbery and forest, often of large 
growth, must be cleared away from a bank too steep 
to admit of ready ascent or descent. Solid rock and 
boulders intermixed with the soil must be reckoned 
with in the construction of the terraces. When com- 
pleted these little platforms of earth must be fertilized, 
and the fertilizer is usually borne upon the backs of 
the laborers. Grapes for wine purposes is the princi- 
pal crop raised, and the quantity or extent of these 
vineyards is bewildering. A hint is here offered 
which accounts for the low price of German wines. 

Up hundreds of feet above the water an occasional 
plateau could be seen devoted to agriculture; little 
patches of wheat, oats, barley, and potatoes, of perhaps 
a quarter of an acre, each being harvested under the 
most adverse conditions; the land elevated at an angle 
of probably 40 degrees made hand cultivation neces- 
sary, and the crop when harvested must be borne on 
the backs of the peasants down long winding paths 
to the foot of the hill where it could be made available. 

On each side of the Rhine, scarcely above high 
water mark, there is a railroad apparently doing a 
thriving business. Arriving at Mayence in the even- 
ing we found but little worthy of note ; there was the 
customary brass music, a distinctive feature of all Ger- 
man cities, both great and small ; thousands of sol- 
diers are disciplined in Mayence at the extensive bar- 
racks owned by the government. Gillmore's printing 
press, said to be the first press ever used, is stored at 
Mayence. We had an attractive ride to Heidelberg 
through fields of hops, beets, potatoes, corn and ap- 



THE GERMANS IN THE "VATERLAND." 65 

pies, interspersed with numerous smoke stacks until 
the black forest was reached. 

The gloomy old woods fairly frowned upon us. It 
was not unlike some of the forests of America, but 
government laws, unlike our own, protect their for- 
ests by providing a penalty and punishment for every 
person who cuts a tree and fails to replace it by an- 
other. 

Heidelberg, the seat of much learning, is scattered 
about without regard to form or regularity. The 
most of this intellectual town lies at the foot of the 
Geisberg mountains and along the left bank of the 
river Neckar. On a single street centers nearly all 
there is worth mentioning, except the long winding 
road up the mountain to the famous Heidelberg cas- 
tle. This ancient fortress was erected on the summit 
of a high perpendicular wall of solid rock. Its archi- 
tect and builders, who projected and constructed its 
twenty-foot walls, evidently believed in its resistance. 
If traditions are to be believed it survived many a 
siege, but at last the French managed to get some 
powder under it and blow up a portion of its heavy 
masonry. In the cellar under this castle is still pre- 
served intact the famous Heidelberg Tun, an over- 
grown barrel, 36 feet long, 24 feet high, having a 
capacity of 800 hogsheads; this Tun was an out- 
growth of a freaky brain, which undertook to provide 
against a famine or a failure in the grape crop. His- 
tory says that the big barrel was never rilled. 

How the poor workmen ever managed to elevate 
to such a height material enough to build such a 
castle is an unsolved mystery. 



66 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

The university of Heidelberg is its principal reve- 
nue producer ; here are gathered young men in great 
numbers, generally to finish their education; culti- 
vation of the muscles as well as of the mind enters 
largely into this education ; these students are fight- 
ers, duelling is a not unfrequent practice, stabbing, 
slashing and fist cuffs are common practices ; scarred 
faces, bloody noses and black eyes are too common 
at the university to attract special notice. Why this 
is tolerated or allowed by the faculty was not ex- 
plained. 



IRKSOME RAILROADING ON THE 
CONTINENT 



LUCERNE AND ITS ATTRACTIONS— THE ALPS— THE WONDERS OF 
THE ST. GOTHARD ROUTE— THE LAND OF WILLIAM TELL. 



An irksome ride in a German sweat-box unworthy 
the name of a passenger coach, landed us in Baden- 
Baden, a city of about 16,000 inhabitants, entertain- 
ing nearly, or quite, 40,000 guests. . 

The city consists largely of palatial hotels and 
public bath houses, with the et-ceteras needed to sus- 
tain its reputation as a fashionable watering place. 
Baden-Baden is of ancient date and of attractive ap- 
pearance. Formerly it was the Monte Carlo of Eu- 
rope, being the resort of the sporting fraternity, more 
especially the gamblers of France, Germany and 
Switzerland, but a law passed in 1872 put a quietus on 
gambling, as it is being strictly enforced. Public 
utility since, of its mineral waters, has filled up the 
hotels with a better class of guests than formerly. 

The low price of the baths tends to the promotion 
of both health and cleanliness, and the authorities 
and residents of the city seem to be imbued with an 
anti-dirt propensity. Baden is scrupulously clean, 
and taken all in all is one of the most fascinating spots 
seen in our travels through nine countries of Europe. 

Of course Baden has a castle. It took a long 
hour's ride up a winding road through a dense forest 
to find it, being located on the highest peak of a 

67 



68 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

mountain adjacent to the city. The old citadel was 
of more than ordinary interest as citadels g"o. The 
dizzy height of its location, the perpendicular walls 
of rock that support it, the query of whence came the 
material for its construction, of who built it, and who 
wrecked it, to us were questions that no one seemed 
prepared to answer. From the pinnacle we got a 
magnificent view of the city and surrounding coun- 
try, its hills, its valleys, its streams, its forests, its 
farm houses, which were both captivating and en- 
chanting. 

We were fortunate in being present at two of 
Sousa's band concerts. His patriotic airs given under 
the folds of the stars and stripes touched the hearts of 
every American present. Acres of the elite and well- 
to-do people gathered in their gorgeously decorated 
gardens, located in the center of the £ ity, to listen to 
Sousa's exquisite music, and to pay tribute to this 
illustrious musician. Both Sousa and his band were 
literally buried with boquets of flowers of the choicest 
varieties. In Baden as in Brussells there is a wide, 
deep, yawning chasm between the elite and the peas- 
antry. At these concerts there were on dress parade 
representatives of fashion, the high class of Germans, 
Switzers, and French in "gorgeous array." Looking 
out from the gardens, the female peasantry could be 
seen either lugging great milk cans from door to door, 
or leading a cow to the residences of the most fastidi- 
ous, to be milked in sight of the proprietress to insure 
a pure and clean article of the lacteal fluid, or in com- 
mand of a dog cart. 

The evil of tipping, which has fastened itself upon 



RAILROADING ON THE CONTINENT. 69 

Europe as we go east grows more perplexing. At 
our hotel the waiter supplied us with a wash bowl and 
pitcher of water, but no soap nor towels ; when these 
were ordered, a fee was demanded not in language 
audible, but in persuasive smiles and an acute sanctity 
which spoke louder than words. When the hour 
came for letter writing, there was the pen and the 
paper and the empty ink-stand. A supply of ink 
meant another fee. As these sordid beggars rely on 
the "tips'' for a livelihood, one does not really object 
to the money paid as much as the wiles of the propri- 
etor, who resorts to this method of wholesale plunder 
of his guests. The frisky waiters at the tables are 
blind to your wants and deaf to your entreaties, un- 
less you come down with a moderate amount of cold 
cash. The head porter of one of the leading Berlin 
hotels is said to have not only contributed his services 
for one year to the proprietor of the hostelry, but to 
have paid $1,500 for the privilege of practicing the 
customary piracy upon the guests of the house. No 
well ordered, well regulated mind expects something 
for nothing, but the great mass of people detest the 
schemes of the degenerate frauds who are plotting 
with their servants to make them pay twice for what 
they receive. Submission to this evil is the only high 
way in Europe for tourists to travel. It is wisdom 
for the American traveler to suppress his indignation, 
yield to the intrigue of the sagacious gangs and make 
the best of it. May America ever be spared the whole- 
sale piratical tipping system of Europe. 

Five hours were needed to cover the distance 
between Baden-Baden and Schaffhausen or Rhine 



70 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

Falls. This was across a country marvelously produc- 
tive and with scenery romantic. 

Methods of cultivation of the soil were along prim- 
itive lines. Ten cows could be seen at work in the 
fields to one horse, and women as tillers of the soil 
were in a large majority. The houses, in fact all 
buildings, are thatched with straw, the roofs usually 
coming within one story of the grounds, suggesting 
to the sight-seer an immense hood rather than a roof. 

Rhine Falls, a thrifty village with limited hotel 
accommodations, but first-class if charges are a fair 
criterion, arrests the brief attention of the tourist by 
reason of the Falls of the Rhine being in the center 
of the town. These blue waters rushing on over the 
rapids and finally over a perpendicular fall, make a 
bewitching spectacle, especially as seen in the even- 
ing when illuminated by electric lights, having a 
variety of colors. 

Leaving Rhine Falls for Lucerne, we entered 
Switzerland, the most mountainous country of Eu- 
rope. Although composed of but 16,000 square miles, 
a majority of which consists of mountains, Switzer- 
land sustains a population of more than 3,000,000 
inhabitants. Every foot of land susceptible of culti- 
vation seemed to be producing a crop of some sort. 
The Switzers are industrious, prudent and economical, 
and evidences of their thrift could be seen everywhere. 
Lacking in farm machinery and modern processes of 
production, the primitive systems observed do not 
fail of results ; what they lack in the adoption of latter 
day inventions is partially supplied by unremitting 
toil and honest sweat. 



RAILROADING ON THE CONTINENT. 71 

Arriving at the foot of the Rigi, our party took 
seats in two open cars and were by a plucky little loco- 
motive pushed up a cog-road to the summit of the 
mountain 6,000 feet high. It was a wild, picturesque 
trip, trying to the nerves and at times wonderfully 
inspiring. From the summit of the Rigi may be seen 
hundreds of snow-clad peaks, some near at hand, 
others in the far distance. Forty-two square miles oi 
Switzerland lies buried deep under the eternal snows 
and glaciers, and although the mercury in the valleys 
during our visit ranged in the nineties, but a feeble 
impression is made upon the snow-banks and glaciers. 
Time has had the effect of making these snow-banks 
as solid as the earth upon which they rest. In con- 
trast to the enervating heat at the foot of the moun- 
tains, at the summit we found a temperature border- 
ing upon 60 degrees and the most wholesome 
atmosphere imaginable. There were several drinking 
places offering their refreshments, but drinking by 
our tourists was limited to great draughts of pure 
atmosphere. With the snow-clad Alps on the one 
side and the deep fertile valleys on the other, the 
scene was enchanting. 

Lucerne down in the distance appeared to be a 
little one-story hamlet, and as we were to remain 
there two days there was much solicitude in our party 
regarding the probable scanty accommodations. 
From this mountain peak a circuit of 300 miles is 
obtainable, human eyes are put to a severe test in 
taking in this vast expanse of territory. While our 
ascent at times seemed perilous, our descent to Lake 
Lucerne on the opposite side of the mountain was 



72 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

doubly so. The cog-road was much more steep, and 
our progress less satisfactory ; we crawled down to the 
water's edge at a snail pace and took a long sigh of 
relief when transferred to a lake steamer. Everybody 
has seen or read of Lake Lucerne ; its dazzling beauty 
and its attractive fringes cannot be exaggerated. A 
trip of a few miles landed us at Lucerne, a city of 
20,000 residents and three times 20,000 tourists. It is 
claimed that a million guests are entertained every 
year at Lucerne; their magnificent hotels have a ca- 
pacity for entertaining all visitors, and few Americans 
who take a trip through Europe skip Lucerne, and 
not one can afford to. It is said to be the most allur- 
ing and inviting spot in Europe. 

Fishing, riding on the lake and trips to the summit 
of Mount Pilatus are the principal occupations of the 
travelers. 

Lucerne has an old tower, an arsenal containing 
many weapons which have seen service, a theater, a 
library, collections of natural history, and factories 
where silks, cottons and gloves are turned out. 

It has a lion 28 feet long carved in the face of 
solid rock and located in the center of the city. This 
piece of art was dedicated as a monument to 786 sol- 
diers who, in 1792, were butchered by a Paris mob; 
the lion appears to be dying from the effects of a 
spear which entered his shoulder and was broken off 
a few inches from the surface. The old fellow's ex- 
pression of agony offers a most striking feature of 
genuine art. 

Vines hang down the cliff and a clear stream 
trickles from above and empties into a pond at the 



RAILROADING ON THE CONTINENT. 73 

base, and in the surface of the pond this king of beasts 
is reflected among the water lilies. The place is a 
sheltered, woodland nook, removed from noise and 
confusion ; the pond is the home of some black swans, 
which contribute to the impressiveness of the sur- 
roundings. 

From Lucerne to Milan through the Alps is one 
of the most graphic trips imaginable. Leaving Lu- 
cerne by the picturesque route of St. Gothards and 
passing Lake Como — said to be the handsomest body 
of water in the world — the scenes grow constantly 
wilder and more menacing. Valleys narrow to gorges, 
precipices become more giddy and the double tracks 
leading into the yawning tunnels tell us that from our 
view will soon be practically shut out the bewilder- 
ment of unique bridges, glacial torrents, battlements 
rockribbed and products of nature's convulsions. On 
every hand the grandeur of the panorama, where day- 
light is admitted, baffles description. 

This is the land of William Tell, the hero and the 
ideal of our boyhood. The romances, the myths, and 
traditions of the thirteenth century, having the 
patriotism of the great Swiss leader for a basis, are 
kept fresh in the minds of his native countrymen. His 
slaying of Gessler, the tyrant, who compelled him to 
shoot an apple from his boy's head, still receives the 
highest commendation, although some historians 
have expressed doubt about the feat having been per- 
formed. 

Nothing in the world's handiwork of wonders 
compares with the famous tunnels of the Alps. Un- 
like most engineering exploits for surmounting high 



74 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

elevations by methods visible on the surface, this 
great feat was performed way down within the depths 
of solid rock. From the base to the summit of the 
Alps our train made circle after circle, through tunnel 
after tunnel, from five to ten miles in length. 

These tunnels remind one of the work of an im- 
mense auger three-fourths of the time, while doing 
its work, incased in the wood with an occasional break 
through to the surface letting in daylight. Through 
these breaks, our passengers caught glimpses of 
scenery made famous in poetry and song. The long- 
est tunnel, nearly ten miles in length, required the 
labor of 10,000 men for ten years, and these tunnels 
are said to have cost the Swiss government sixty 
million dollars. 



SCENES IN THE ALPS 



SUNNY ITALY— ANTIQUE MILAN— THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE 

WORLD. 



Our trip through the longest tunnel, notwith- 
standing its heavy up grade, was made in 23 minutes. 
Any American failing to be moved or to get inspira- 
tion from the sights between tunnels along this route 
must be a hopeless stoic. Description of the rich 
emerald green, and the golden tints of grain in the 
deep valleys, through which coursed streams of blue 
snow water, not unlike a long stretch of blue ribbon 
making its way toward the Rhine, pens and pencils 
utterly fail to fittingly describe. These valleys, as seen 
from the mountain tops, are captivating. The land- 
scapes, as viewed in the glimpses upward along the 
mountain slopes, are hardly less interesting. 

The terrace above terrace consisting of stone walls 
and small plateaus, the handiwork of the Switzer 
peasant ; the Swiss cottages, usually made of logs, 
neat and home-like ; the crops produced by primitive 
methods of cultivation ; the general air of thrift ; the 
ruddy faces of the men and the maidens, breathing 
this mountain air, combined to make a lasting im- 
pression on the minds of our party. The Switzer 
requires but little, and contentment, the greatest of 
all earthly blessings, is his. 

To my question, how do these people with all 
their industry manage to live in a country not unlike 
the Rockies of America, where grizzlys, antelopes and 

76 



76 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

mountain sheep are almost the sole occupants, the 
reply was, "Oh, this is a dairy country." "But where 
are the cows?" The cows are away on the summit of 
the mountain and over on the other slope, where fac- 
tories are located for producing the highest grades of 
Swiss cheese, which supplies the aristocracy of all 
civilized countries. My informant said further : "The 
Swiss daughters take the cows, the calves and the 
goats, in the spring as soon as the grass and herbage 
begins to show itself, drive to these cheese factories, 
where they remain caring for the stock until the snows 
of October drive them homeward. In the meantime, 
the fathers, mothers and sons have been busy in culti- 
vating and harvesting the crops needed for wintering 
the animals, as the numerous little stacks of hay, 
fodder and corn bore evidence. The money received 
from the cheese factories, together with the vege- 
tables and grain, constitute the basis for independence 
and comfortable livelihood. The persistent industry 
of these peasants in overcoming the hard lines of 
nature to be contended with along these rocky 
heights, is worthy of the highest admiration. 

Added to the scenes described were the numerous 
cascades of snow-white water, which for thousands of 
feet came tumbling from the snow-banks of the moun- 
tain peaks. Some in little silver threads, others of 
greater volume, suggesting a high waterfall. 

Then the views of the rugged rocks, the shrub- 
bery of evergreen, the wild flowers in profusion near 
the base of the mountain, the gleaming of a lake with 
its sparkling waters, and the thriving little villages 
here and there — never without church spires — added 



SCENES IN THE ALPS. 77 

to the charms of the landscapes. At the stations 
along- the route little girls with eidelweiss for sale, 
supplied our party with this*rare flower, which blooms 
and fades under the very breath of the snow-banks, 
reaching maturity at a higher altitude than any other 
flower in the world. 

From all parts of the earth gather here, during the 
summer months, people of various nationalities to fill 
the hotels and boarding houses for a brief season, to 
receive the benefits from the pure mountain air and 
to enjoy this fascinating scenery. Many of these 
hostelries are located on the pinnacles of the highest 
peaks below the snow-capped mountains. Here 
invalids are invigorated and life and health receives 
a thrilling impetus. 

Out of Switzerland into sunny Italy, popularly 
known as the land of fruits and flowers. Examina- 
tion of our baggage by a gang of boodlers, who for a 
small price paid by our conductor after a short parley, 
secured the necessary chalk-marks on our leather 
trunks, when we were liberated from their farcical 
clearing house. These so-called government officials, 
in ''knocking down" public money are as bold as a 
gang of Spanish bandits. 

Northern Italy is a beautiful country, abounding 
in vast orchards and crops of grain, including great 
fields of Indian corn. 

In our long ride to Milan we were scarcely out of 
sight of mulberry trees, from which silk worms are 
kept busy in supplying the raw material for one of the 
leading industries of Italy. These trees, fifteen to 
twenty feet in height, set in long rows, are usually 



78 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

made to support the everywhere present grapevines 
of that country. Some of the crops of grain and vege- 
tables grown in Italy are duplicated each year, and of 
some varieties three crops are grown on the same land 
during twelve months. 

Farm houses are usually old, small and out of date, 
lacking in the elements of attractiveness and comfort. 
The ordinary farm laborer of that sunny clime is a 
pinched, inferior specimen of humanity, apparently 
leading a slavish life, lacking in education and dwarfed 
in intellect. Compensation for his labor is small, and 
if he has been so fortunate as to accumulate and be- 
come a property holder, the tax gatherer is to him a 
nightmare. 

The government of Italy, in the support of its 
royalty and its immense standing army, taxes its sub- 
jects well-nigh out of existence. There is a tax upon 
everything pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell or taste. 
That anarchism should be one of the leading crops of 
Italy is a natural sequence. 

The assassination of King Humbert, cold-blooded 
and heartless as it was, produced but little sensation 
in this kingdom. The masses seemed to take it in a 
matter-of-fact way and the chatter and smiles of the 
laborers were full of significance. Humbert was a 
good king as Italian kings go, but hordes of Dagos 
"ag'in the government" had long been plotting for 
his life. Humbert was a good financier, both for him- 
self and for his country. During his reign the govern- 
ment had been relieved of many of its burdens and 
from a commercial standpoint had been lifted out of 
some of the sloughs of despond, all of which counted 



SCENES IN THE ALPS. 79 

as nothing with thousands of anarchists responsible 
for the bloody deed. 

Our first stop in Italy was. at Milan, second in size 
of Italian cities, having a population of something 
more than 300,000 inhabitants. Milan has great com- 
mercial advantages, and from a commercial stand- 
point has long been prominent. Its first organization 
was near the birth of the Christian era. Twice de- 
stroyed by fire and sword, it rose from the ashes, and 
now, barring its ancient tinge, is one of the finest 
cities on the continent. The city is almost circular, 
and is encompassed on three sides by ramparts and 
low walls. The modern portion of Milan has wide, 
regular and well-paved streets. Many of the resi- 
dences are imposing. Its principal church — the 
famous gothic cathedral Duomo, the eighth wonder 
of the world — represents a Latin cross 500 feet long, 
250 feet wide, with the nave 150 feet high and a spire 
354 feet high, surmounted by a well-developed figure 
of the Madonna. Six hundred years have been con- 
sumed in the construction of this edifice. From fifteen 
to twenty generations of skilled architects have spent 
their precious lives upon this dream in marble. Gen- 
eration after generation of laborers, who gathered in 
swarms to assist in its construction, have come and 
gone and still the marvelous pile remains unfinished. 
The work leading toward completion is, however, 
being prosecuted with vigor. The cathedral has 4,500 
statues on its hundreds of pinnacles, towers, columns, 
turrets, and in its niches and alcoves. A climb of 494 
steps to the top of the tower secures a fine view of the 
city and the adjacent plains of Lombardy, the great 



80 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

canals, the extensive silk manufacturies, and the 
numerous railroads which center at Milan. 

History records scenes of conflict in which the city 
has been besieged eight times and surrendered to its 
enemies twenty-eight times. Trees and ornamental 
shrubbery have long since concealed the bristling 
cannon and other weapons of defense once used for 
the protection of the city. 

The famous fresco of "The Last Supper," by Leo- 
nardo de Vinci, is an attraction second to none other 
in Europe in the way of art. Located in an old con- 
vent now used for a soldiers' barracks, the picture has 
been sadly defaced and much of its original beauty 
destroyed. Milan boasts of the finest arcade in the 
world, known as the Victor Emmanuel galleries, ex- 
tending across the block in both directions, orna- 
mented with fine statues and sheltered by a roof of 
semi-circular glass, in the center of which is an im- 
mense glass dome. It is here that the ladies of the 
elite and well-to-do people gather to do shopping and 
indulge in Italian gossip. The picture gallery of 
Milan described in detail would exhaust the reader. 
The old masters, including Raphael and Michael An- 
gelo, are in evidence. The interior of the great 
cathedral offers most potent reasons for criticism of 
Italian extravagance. Millions of dollars are there 
tied up in ornaments of the most expensive varieties. 
Gold and precious stones almost without limit enter 
into the grand display. Down in the basement we 
were shown the sarcophagus containing the remains 
of an archbishop, who for 300 years had been resting 
under jewels valued at $1,000,000. This dead aggre- 



SCENES IN THE ALPS. 81 

gation of wealth is preserved intact in spite of the 
poverty of the swarms of beggars whose appeals for 
a mere pittance, just enough to prolong their miser- 
able lives, rings in the ears of every visitor at Milan. 
These pitiful geniuses, many of them old and decrepit, 
followed us across the threshold of the cathedral dis- 
turbing the sanctity of the confessionals with their 
imperious demands for something that would satisfy 
either their wolfish hunger of their mercenary greed 
for money. 



ANTIQUATED VENICE 



DEPARTED GLORY— BLUSTERING GONDOLIERS— MECCA FOR THE 
SMALL BOY. 



The peninsula of Italy extending from the Alps 
southward and including Sicily and Sardinia, makes 
a stretch of more than seven hundred miles. 

There is a marked diversity in both the conditions 
of the inhabitants and the quality of the country as 
deterioration is the rule as the southern limit is 
approached. In the northern portion the country is 
more fertile, the people are better nourished and 
better developed physically and intellectually than in 
the southern portion. 

The Italians, who come to America to build our 
railroads and sell bananas, live in tents, work for low 
wages and subsist upon hard bread and weak coffee, 
hail from the southern portion of the kingdom, which 
has long been over-crowded and where civilization 
has a flimsy and uncertain footing. 

Our entry into Venice was awaited by a large fleet 
of gondolas. There was the usual hackman's rivalry 
for patronage, to see whose boat should be filled first 
and who could secure the largest slice of our party, 
which had no choice of routes or methods of trans- 
portation. A wide stretch of blue water between the 
depot and our point of destination gave the gondoliers 
a monopoly; but these noisy, exuberant and enthus- 
iastic Venetians gave abundant evidence that they 
had not been attacked by the trust epidemic and that 



ANTIQUATED VENICE. 83 

competition in their lines of work was keen. The 
gondoliers of Venice, numbered by thousands, are 
extremely loquacious and pugnacious. They fight 
freely with their tongues, but rarely strike; their riots 
are free from bloodshed; they are tall, muscular and 
robust. Their exhibitions of strength and skill in pro- 
pelling their boats is often astonishing. They have 
voices that would make the forest tremble, if there 
was a forest; they are nearly all singers and are all 
lovers of music. 

To the reader of history Venice at sight proves a 
disappointment. Its splendor, beauty and original 
magnificence has long since departed. Time, the ex- 
acting mistress, has quietly and silently erased its gilt 
and annihilated its once fascinating and captivating 
splendor. The Venice of story and song has departed ; 
the magnificent, invincible Venice, which for more 
than a dozen centuries kept prestige of leadership of 
commercial prosperity of all the cities of the world, 
has collapsed. The city has been robbed of her glory 
by centralization of commerce in other localities. Her 
fleets known in the remotest oceans, which a thousand 
years ago gathered and distributed the products of 
every clime, have long since gone to decay ; her piers 
are deserted; her warehouses are empty, and all that 
remains of a once commercial center is a memory. 
That memory, however, answers her present inhabi- 
tants a good purpose. The crop of tourists, which in 
a steady stream contribute to the filling of her coffers, 
are paying tribute to the Venice of palmy days; her 
present poverty, her humiliation and her reverses have 
not proved potent enough to turn the tide of foreign 



84 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

curiosity away from this venerable autocrat of com- 
merce and relic of former grandeur. 

Venice was built originally upon about one hun- 
dren islands, seventy-five of which are left, spaces 
being filled in between the others. Between these 
islands the waterways or canals extend in every direc- 
tion ; these waterways are supplied by the sea and are 
affected by the rising and falling of the tides. About 
three hundred bridges large and small connect these 
islands. 

As no horses are used in the city and no heavy 
loads cross the bridges, they are usually narrow and 
cheaply built structures. Everybody has seen a pic- 
tureofthe bridge of the Rialto, which crosses the grand 
canal, having a span of 91 feet. It was a structure of rare 
beauty a few centuries ago, and of great disappoint- 
ment to our visitors because of its ancient and dilapi- 
dated appearance. Around the Rialto history and 
fiction have located much with which the world has 
become familiar. Here was located Shakespeare's 
Merchant of Venice, the house of the money changers 
and the home of Shylock. The rooms occupied by 
the money changers in Shakespeare's Merchant of 
Venice now form a part of an extensive fish market, 
while at the other end of the bridge the home of Shy- 
lock is being occupied as a government postofrice — 
where I went through winding and narrow streets to 
receive my mail. Like most other buildings in the 
city, their value for business or residence purposes 
has greatly depreciated. Their antiquated, old-fash- 
ioned architecture, although dignified with historical 
reminiscences, suffers for want of ordinary care and 



ANTIQUATED VENICE. 85 

preservation. Venice, like all Italian cities, is heavily 
loaded with a coat of dirt and its venerable presence is 
to be regretted, especially when its resting place 
happens to be upon the beautiful mosaics, upon the 
highly polished marble of rare qualities, upon the 
tables, vases, tapestry, paintings, sculpture and scores 
of other exquisite specimens of art that centuries ago 
were the pride of the city and the delight of the ad- 
mirers of well-kept and well-preserved handiwork of 
the great masters. 

Venice is noted for its pretty women and dirty 
faced, neglected children; with its copious supply of 
water the inhabitants should be the cleanest in the 
world and a war upon the dirt of the city would 
surely terminate in a victory of the assilants. 

Venice is a Mecca for the small boy. Such a thing 
as hoeing in the garden, milking the cow or driving 
her to pasture never enters into his calculations or 
disturbs the sweetness of his morning nap. Taking 
a swim, instead of meaning a tramp away to a muddy 
pond, he strips off in his own home, jumps from his 
own threshold and gets all the benefits of a bath in 
the ocean. It is not uncommon to see mothers assist- 
ing their little ones in the art of swimming. In one 
case I noticed three little "tots" at the other end of 
some ropes ten or fifteen feet in length, fastened 
around their bodies, while the mother was holding on 
to the frisky little cherubs and watching their gambols 
in the sea fronting her modest residence. 

As a quiet retreat for invalids Venice must be an 
ideal spot, as save the clarion voices of the gondolier 
the city is favored with a graveyard stillness. There 



86 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

are no steam whistles, electric cars, omnibuses, milk 
or ice wagons rattling over stony streets to disturb 
morning sleepers or rack the nerves and patience of 
invalids. The pavements are all constructed of wood 
resting on piles numbered by hundreds of thousands. 

The Venetian laborer seems a quiet, indifferent 
person, and as it takes but little to keep soul and body 
together, is usually found resting on the benches or 
getting the benefit of summer heat on the sunny side 
of a public building. If he was not born tired, his 
appearance is deceiving. 

The main reliance for food of the middle and lower 
classes is fish and macaroni. The Italians are skilled 
in the art of making macaroni palatable, cheap and 
wholesome. The operations of fishermen and the 
conduct of the fish markets are regulated by statute. 
The sale of dead fish is prohibited by a law strictly 
enforced. They are caught in great quantities in the 
waters adjacent to the city and brought in in baskets, 
towed through the water behind the boats. The pur- 
chaser usually receives his fish direct from the basket 
when lifted from the water, and the price put upon 
some of the varieties is very low. There are few enter- 
prises in the city employing labor, the manufacture of 
lace taking the lead. I saw hundreds of girls crowded 
into dingy, ill-ventilated rooms, wearing out their 
nimble fingers in the production of fine laces; their 
compensation ranged from sixteen to twenty-four 
cents a day. The prices asked for the goods seemed 
to warrant more pay, but the poor operatives are not 
protected by labor unions or co-operation and are 
compelled to accept whatever the employers are gen- 



ANTIQUATED VENICE. 87 

erous enough to offer. The lady contingent of our 
party fairly raved over some of the elegant patterns 
and fine quality of the goods. Many an American 
dollar drops into the slot in payment for these coveted 
articles. How to extract the largest amount of cash 
from the pockets of the tourists is the leading propo- 
sition with all Venetians. It's the study of their lives 
from the cradle to the grave. The art of begging is 
an early lesson, the little juveniles become experts in 
the business. These leeches are hard to shake off; 
when everything else fails, they will fall down in 
front of you and try to block the way until their de- 
mands are complied with. 

The quantity and variety of bric-a-brac, knick- 
knacks and souvenirs for sale in Venice is astonishing. 
The stores dealing in the same are numbered by 
hundreds and the prices are usually much lower than 
the same goods can be bought for in America. Amer- 
icans are the best customers and the Venetian harvest 
from this source lasts all the year. 



VENETIAN ENTERPRISE AND ANCIENT 
ARISTOCRACY 



RULE OF THE DOGES— INHUMAN TREATMENT OF CRIMINALS- 
GILDED AGE SUPERSEDED BY POVERTY AND DIRT. 



No authentic history of Venice dates back of the 
fifth century, when the marshy islands served as tem- 
porary retreats from barbarian invasions, and the first 
permanent settlement dates from the beginning of the 
ninth century. The physical condition of the islands 
to be contended with were unpropitious and unsuited 
for the growth and progress of a large and prosperous 
city. There was lack of serviceable timber, drinkable 
water was almost out of the question, and the neces- 
sity of building upon piles was universal. 

The spirit of enterprise which possessed the Vene- 
tians would not down. All obstacles were overcome 
by their genius and push in building and manning 
fleets sufficient to control the commerce of the world. 
For seven or eight hundred years the prestige attained 
by their push was held in spite of all rivalry. Their form 
of government, that of an aristocratic republic, was 
adopted at an early period ; later, or in the beginning 
of the seventh century, there was a change, giving 
popular representation to a doge or a duke, a sort of 
chief magistrate clothed with supreme power. The 
selection and dominant ruling of the doges lasted for 
many centuries and during their reign the city became 
a center of wealth, fashion, extravagance and cruelty. 
The value of human life was uncertain and of low 



VENETIAN ENTERPRISE. 89 

estimate. The doges generally ruled with an iron rod, 
and although their words were law, the tables not 
unfrequently were turned upon them and they suf- 
fered the cruelties and the tortures that they had been 
guilty of imposing upon others. In one case history 
accounts for the skinning alive of a doge; others were 
condemned and suffered tortuous deaths; and still 
others were punished by having their eyes put out. 
Inhuman treatment of criminals at the present day 
hardly has a parallel to Venice in any other city of the 
world. I crossed the "Bridge of Sighs" and walked 
around the prison where 300 life convicts were eking 
out an unfortunate existence. A good share of these 
miserable prisoners are located below the water line 
in small, dark, damp cells. Many of them are only 
two feet by six feet, and known as "coffin cells," where 
no streak of daylight is allowed to enter. The thick 
walls which separate them forbid all intercourse. They 
see no living being except a guard, who twice each day 
delivers to them a scanty ration. We were informed 
that their cells were alive with vermin and destitute 
of everything which contributes to human comfort. 
The average period of life spent in this prison is only 
about one year, insanity being the means of terminat- 
ing the existence of the largest number. There are 
tales told of the guards taking these poor lunatics out 
at dead of night, sailing away in a gondola two or 
three miles, attaching weights to their limbs and 
dropping them into the sea; this, although a crime, 
is a merciful one, if half the stories told of their tor- 
tures are true. 

In literature and art Venice in the middle ages 



90 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

rose to the standard of Greece. Inventive genius gave 
the city distinction. There were costly tissues made, 
they manufactured gunpowder and glass, their paint- 
ings and architecture, their sculpture and their 
decorations still in existence were of the highest order. 

The Doges palace is a marvel of beauty, elegance 
and costly ornamentation. The wealth piled up in its 
construction and finish would be difficult to estimate. 
The ceilings of some of the large rooms are still cover- 
ed with a sheet of gold. From our guide I tried to get 
an estimate of its value but failed. These rooms were 
a reminder of the description of Solomon's temple. 

St. Mark's square, located centrally, is the chief 
attraction of Venice. It comprises perhaps two or 
three acres of pavement and is entirely surrounded 
with ancient blocks, palaces and stores. A cathedral 
and the Doges' palace filling one side of the square. 
Here at a glance you get a view of enough of historic 
Venice to keep an ordinary mortal busy studying for 
a month. The Doges' palace, the cathedral, the mint, 
and library, the royal palace, with many other public 
buildings, are filled with choice relics of the long, long 
ago. In the cathedral there are two alabaster col- 
umns, two feet in diameter, taken from Solomon's 
temple. A lighted match held behind one of these 
columns settled its transparency, and its power to 
illumine with amber glory. There is on exhibition 
what purports to be the robe of Jesus, a portion of 
earth from Mount Calvary wet once from his blood, a 
fragment of the true cross upon which he suffered, 
with many other relics of like interest, but should the 
truth of their genuiness be questioned, or disputed, 



VENETIAN ENTERPRISE. 91 

there would be danger of disappointment to the over- 
credulous. The vast collection of painting's will not 
permit of enumeration. Several hundred, for instance, 
are credited to each one of the old masters, and hun- 
dreds to artists unknown to fame outside of Italy. 
The painting of the Glory of Paradise, by Tintoretto, 
located in the Doges' palace, 78 by 32 feet, is modestly 
claimed to be the largest oil painting in the world. It 
attracts the largest crowd of any picture that it was 
my fortune to see and if I were to venture an opinion 
it would be that as a specimen of art it is worthy of all 
the admiration it receives. The winged Lion of St. 
Mark with an open Bible under his paw, as an attrac- 
tive emblem has few rivals in the old city. 

The clock tower, the four gilt bronze horses (the 
only horses in^the city), the church of the Jesuits fin- 
ished with marbles of a variety of colors from the 
Orient and decorated with porphyry and alabaster are 
attractions which deeply impress the tourist. Under 
this old Jesuit church, which took fifty-six years to 
erect, many of the piles have rotted and given way, 
allowing the floor to settle in spots from one to two 
feet. 

With the glory and valor of Venice has departed 
the beauty of all its exposed decorations. Its marble 
palaces resemble sand-stone from a distance, but 
barring the dirt, the golden stair-cases, the broad, 
marble stairways, the gilded stuccos and frescos, retain 
their richness and are in a good state of preservation. 

St. Mark's square and its surrounding is the pre- 
empted home of thousands of doves, being supported 
by a legacy provided in the will of an old lady some 



92 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

time a resident of Venice. These doves are fed about 
two p. m. when they gather in clouds to receive their 
rations. The birds have become so domesticated that 
they light upon not only their benefactors, but upon 
the spectators by dozens. 

The population of Venice is about 150,000, one- 
fourth of which are said to be paupers. Indolence and 
laziness seems to be stamped upon the laboring 
classes, but there is little in the ancient city to excite 
ambition. Enterprise is smothered by the universal 
desire to get something for nothing, or to pluck the 
tourist for the means of an indifferent livelihood. The 
oriental magnificence and extravagance, the millions 
of gold used by the ancients in building and ornamen- 
tation is all dead wealth, preserved and existing in the 
center of misery, degradation and pauperism. 

We spent an afternoon visiting the Adriatic four 
miles away, and bathing in its green waters. Our 
party filled fifteen gondolas, which were lashed to- 
gether and propelled by the most skillful and stalwart 
specimens of the gondolier's art. A band of vocal and 
instrumental music filled one of the boats, and their 
patriotic airs were full of sweetness though to us lack- 
ing sentimentality as they were all Italian, or Greek to 
us. In nearly every song the gondoliers joined in on 
the chorus and their exhilaration was not wanting in 
giving emphasis to the harmony and pathos, which 
charmed the Americans. The bath houses along the 
shore of the Adriatic are very extensive, making a 
popular resort for all tourists visiting Venice in the 
summer months. 

We returned to Venice in the evening and its 



VENETIAN ENTERPRISE. 93 

approach upon the water under its profusion of elec- 
tric lights and music, both vocal and instrumental, 
combined to create the charm of a life time. 

In Venice there is but one step from the sublime to 
the horrible. I will not weary the reader further by an 
attempt at description of royal scenes, as they existed 
in the middle ages, the elaborate tables, furniture, 
vases, marbles and tapestry of every kind and descrip- 
tion, nor of the ax and block where criminals by 
thousands were publicly executed. Crime in those 
days consisting of too much patriotism or too little, 
too much religion or too little (either of which was 
punishable by public decapitation), and if not guilty of 
either of these charges, an enemy, if a man of in- 
fluence, asked that a life be taken his wish was granted. 

Poor dilapidated dingy, dirty, dull old Venice. To 
be weak is miserable, to depend upon charity for sup- 
port, or to prey upon your fellowmen for something to 
sustain life, and to get something for nothing, is 
neither ennobling nor patriotic, but the evidence of 
fallen greatness, the memories of a gilded age cannot 
help warming every sympathetic nature which con- 
nects the sorrowful present with the prosperous dead 
past. In spite of the poverty, the dirt, the blood- 
thirsty mosquitos, the fleas, and the human parasites, 
the memory of the three days spent in Venice will 
linger with a large degree of satisfaction while life 
lasts. 



FLORENCE THE HOME OF ART 



ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE— DONKEYS AND DIRT— THE RESTING 
PLACE OF ARTISTS AND POETS OF DISTINCTION. 



Our route from Venice to Florence through the 
Apennines, and through forty-five tunnels, sharply- 
contrasted with the railroad experiences for a few days 
previous. These tunnels, without light, or ventilation, 
are the foulest things imaginable. The gas generated 
by the locomotive is suffocating, and the odor is any- 
thing but agreeable. The Apennines are rugged and 
rocky, in many places they reach well up toward the 
clouds, creating a necessity for the railroads to go 
through rather than over the mountains. Some of the 
scenery is fine. Hemp is one of the leading crops on 
the low lands, which largely consists of clay, and hard 
clay at that. 

Florence is a city of about 200,000 inhabitants. 
No visitor would for a moment question its antiquity. 
It is not as old as the Apennines, but its origin ante- 
dates the Christian era. It has a cathedral, which 
Julius Caesar gets the credit for erecting. 

Florence is the home of art. This prestige has 
been its leading asset for centuries. It has a multitude 
of artists, who are constantly fashioning its rough 
marble into statuary of every kind and description. 
From its little marble statues, six inches in height, 
to great monuments thirty feet in height, excelling 
in artistic conception and exquisite finish. Florence 
is pre-eminent. 

94 . , ., vU .... , 



FLORENCE THE HOME OF ART. 95 

The aptitude and dexterity shown by some of 
these workmen is marvelous. Out of a rough block 
of marble they can make you a small sized statue 
while you wait. These Italians are born artists and 
seem to be fitted for little else. 

In the Uffizi art gallery we saw miles and miles of 
paintings and statuary. Someone has said that that 
portion of the gallery known as the Tribune was the 
richest room in the world. "A heart that draws all 
hearts to it." Here was the Venus de Medici, the 
painting of Venus by Titian, also some of Raphael's 
finest masterpieces, a Madonna and a St. John, 
Titian's Magdaline and St. Catherine are in this grand 
collection. In this great gallery was what is claimed 
to be the oldest picture in the world. It would hardly 
win a prize as a specimen of fine art. 

To us the most interesting spot in the city was the 
church of Santa Croce, as it contains the tomb of 
Dante, by far the greatest of all Italian poets. Al- 
though Dante passed away nearly six hundred years 
ago, having spent his life in Florence, his memory is 
venerated with a tenderness that is unusual. 

In this church or cathedral are also the tombs of 
Michael Angelo, Machiavelli, Rossini, Petrarch, Leo- 
nardo di Vinci, Cellini and Andrea del Sarto, all of 
whom were either born or spent the most of their 
lives in this city. Each of these men of genius have 
a sarcophagus worthy of their illustrious names. Santa 
Croce is the Westminister Abbey of Florence. 

Florence is not a paradise of beauty, as many 
writers would have us believe. The city is represented 
with every variety of architecture. Some of its build- 



96 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

ings, evidently imposing and interesting in the middle 
ages, have long since passed into the sere and yellow 
leaf, and the dirt which afflicted Venice is too palp- 
able to warrant a close inspection. Donkeys, beggars 
and dirt, are first and foremost in the physical makeup 
of Florence. Aside from artistic work there are few 
enterprises employing labor, and a visit to the suburbs 
and the streets where the laboring classes are in multi- 
tude indicated that there was little to earn and many 
to keep. The poor little abused donkey is a prolific 
subject of commiseration. He does the work assigned 
to the horses and dogs in Brussells and Cologne. We 
saw the little scrawny, half-starved brutes drawing at 
least four times the weight of the animal, and on the 
top of the loads were sitting great, lubberly, lazy 
drivers. When a sharp incline was reached and the 
scratching of the little donkey brought him to his 
knees and he could go no further the driver would 
climb down and assist him up the grade by a long 
pull and a strong pull at the little fellow's head. Here 
was an excellent field for a humane society. Supt. 
Chapman would have his hands full reforming these 
soulless vagrants. 

Everybody has heard of the Arno, the "broad 
river" which courses through the center of Florence. 
It is historical, but not ideal. 

Instead of a great channel of clear sparkling water, 
we found it a good sized creek, with possibly three 
feet of water in the deepest places and such water, 
why, it was a reminder of our own Black river (though 
the water was not as thick) after a series of showers 
have washed the cornlands of Carlisle. Mark Twain 



FLORENCE THE HOME OF ART. 97 

said that the Arno would be a very plausible river if 
they would pump some water into it, but we were 
there during a drought — and possibly the rainy sea- 
son would have the effect to enlarge our vision. As 
water and soap find little use with the middle and 
lower classes of the city, what to our party seemed 
a scarcity may not be apparent to the Italians. Al- 
though the list of fine things in Florence is a long 
one, there has been an unpardonable exaggeration 
of its loveliness as a city. Were its works of art elimin- 
ated there would be little left to admire. True it has 
some well-ordered public gardens on a high eminence 
east of the city. There are some mountains in the 
distance, there are some fragments of old city walls 
and towers and other ancient relics, which might be 
raked out of the dust of antiquity and made interest- 
ing. 

The botanical gardens, affording a grand oppor- 
tunity for students in botany, are well kept and have 
varieties of shrubbery and flowers which are unknown 
to Americans. 

A monument to King David by Michael Angelo, 
more than 20 feet high, is the central figure on the 
heights adjoining the city, and by good judges is 
pronounced an excellent product of artistic genius. 

The grave of Elizabeth Barrett Browning in their 
well-kept cemetery attracted the notice of our party. 
Although laid to rest forty years ago the fame of this 
distinguished English poetess is not in the least 
dimmed. After her marriage to Robert Browning, 
the poet, they resided chiefly in Italy. Mrs. Brown- 



98 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

ing, although lacking vigor and always in delicate 
health, as a champion of Italy and her welfare had 
few if any equals as a writer of her time. Depth of 
feeling, genuine pathos and noble sentiment charac- 
terized her productions. 

If Florence has a fad it is in the equipment of her 
police department, which is made up of ornamental 
specimens, if not useful ; the whole force seemed to 
belong to the "Captain Jinks" order; their embroid- 
ered swallow tailed coats and cocked hats entitles 
them to the sobriquet of dudes. 

The cripples, consisting of the club-footed, the 
withered hand and other physical deformities, are 
shockingly numerous in this old city. In traveling 
the streets you are rarely free from their appeals for 
charity ; the piteous tones of the beggars, the women 
clothed in rags lugging their little ones to and fro, 
created impressions that one would gladly shake off. 

From its earliest history Florence has been noted 
for its high standards of literature, and through all 
the centuries down to the present time that standard 
is said to have been maintained. Its highest grades 
of society, or the upper classes, are readily recognized 
by their refined manners, their evident culture and 
their suavity. We have never come in contact with 
a more courteous, gentle, affable people, showing all 
the evidences of good breeding, than the high class of 
Italians, while the lower strata ignore rules of civili- 
zation which raise mankind to a level above the brute 
creation. Their every day customs, which will not 
admit of any elaboration in these columns, fill tourists 
with disgust. 



FLORENCE THE HOME OF ART. 99 

I shall omit the bloody portion of Florentine his- 
tory; the throat cutting, assassinations, the cruelties, 
the sieges, which made its city walls necessary, and 
its various experiences not unlike the other cities of 
Italy, and will try and eliminate from memory the un- 
pleasant scenes, giving her credit for her three li- 
braries containing 300,000 volumes, her great uni- 
versity, her skill as evidenced in her jewelry marts, 
in her mosaics, the choicest in the world, and in the 
maintenance of the largest percentage of artists of 
any city of modern times. 

I must not omit the old church containing the 
tomb of Amerigo Vespucci, the publisher of the first 
map of the new world and the man who christened 
our country with the name of America, nor the fa- 
mous Baptistry with bronze doors which Michael 
Angelo said "were worthy to be the Gates of Para- 
dise." 

On account of the intense heat we left Florence 
on our long ride to Rome at any early hour in the 
morning. The trip was a repetition of previous ex- 
periences, country scenes, furnished little that was 
striking. Lands which had been under cultivation 
for 2,000 years or more still produce wheat and other 
cereals. Methods of cultivation are not abreast with 
progressive countries. But few horses were to be 
seen, the beasts of burden were white oxen with high 
horns extending up nearly parallel with each other 
from two to three feet. All the cattle in that section 
of the country are white, cows are occasionally seen in 
the yoke and the calves dependent upon their mothers 
for support are keeping the drivers company. The 

L.ofC. 



100 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

leading stock growers are breeding fine wool sheep 
and goats. 

Wheat was being harvested with sickles and 
cradles, thrashed in the fields by machines and the 
grain scattered about on the ground in heaps. The 
straw, which was needed to enrich the land, was be- 
ing burned. If there was any system, science or good 
sense in their kind of farming it didn't show itself. It 
was a sort of hap-hazard, hit-or-miss cultivation, desti- 
tute of all signs of progressiveness or prosperity. 
The mills for grinding their grain were of the most 
primitive descriptions and ancient patterns. 

The mass of these tillers of the soil pay little or 
no regard to the Sabbath, working in the fields seven 
days in the week. As we approached Rome there 
was a decrease in the fertility of the soil and the blight 
upon the country became more noticeable. For the 
last fifty miles olive raising is the leading vocation, 
and the numerous olive orchards were to us full of 
interest. On nearly every promontory, or high ele- 
vation within sight of our train for a long distance 
out of Rome, there was a village or city deserted and 
in ruins. The castles, the public buildings, and the 
residences all built of stone, all dilapidated, tumbling 
down and going to decay were solemn reminders of 
the history of the mighty fallen. 



THE ETERNAL CITY 



THREE ROMES— ANCIENT RUINS— THE CORSO— STREET SCENES— 
THE TIBER. 



Arriving at Rome at high noon imagine our sur- 
prise at finding a city apparently in all respects mod- 
ern. Fine hotels, elegant residences, and homelike 
cottages with well kept gardens, and a profusion of 
flowers, dispelled the dreams of the ancient, dilapi- 
dated, gray old Rome, the history of which made 
boyhood impressions never to be effaced. This mod- 
ernized appearance was short lived. Our ride to the 
center of the city, which landed us at the Hotel de 
Rome, located on the Corso, restored, or brought 
out the Rome that we were seeking, and that we had 
traveled many thousand miles to see. 

The eternal city is composed of three Romes, the 
modernized portion, which has come into existence 
during the last century, the Rome of the middle ages, 
embracing the capitol, every phase of architecture 
known to the world, and public buildings of all 
descriptions, nearly all in a fair state of preserva- 
tion, and the Rome of the Caesars generally in 
ruins with here and there relics of ancient days. 
A few buildings still occupied that were erected be- 
fore the Christian era and fragments of palaces and 
the most expensive and extravagant residences ex- 
hibit here and there relics. It is in Caesar's Rome 
that interest of the tourist deepens. It is there that 
territory extending as far as the eye can reach pre- 

101 



102 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

sents scenes of desolation and annihilation. Miles 
and miles of debris is all that is left of a once mighty, 
powerful and prosperous city. 

All the world has read of the Corso a mile long, 
and the principal thoroughfare. Our dream of the 
street, comparing in width with the leading streets 
of Philadelphia or the thoroughfares of Salt Lake 
City — 150 feet in width — lacked reality when we 
found by actual measurement that the renowned old 
Corso was less than thirty-five feet wide, including the 
sidewalks, barely two feet each in width. As nearly all 
the buildings are from five to six stories, having bal- 
conies, as a rule the direct rays of Old Sol for a good 
part of the day are not to be reckoned with. Speak- 
ing of the sunshine and its effects, the popular idea is 
that the heated season of July and August is produc- 
tive of fevers, and that going to Rome during those 
months is a dangerous proposition ; this is a mistaken 
notion, residents of the city remain indoors during the 
middle of the day, and tourists following their ex- 
ample, or protecting themselves with umbrellas, and 
taking only moderate exercise have little to fear in the 
way of fevers or epidemics. The heat of the day in 
Rome is not without a wholesome atmosphere coming 
in from the Mediterranean a few miles away, while the 
nights are invariably cool. From 9 a. m. to 4 p. m. 
the Corso is practically deserted, scarcely a team in 
sight. Both morning and evening this thorough- 
fare is the liveliest spot imaginable. Progress is 
necessarily slow as the loaded teams and carriages 
must keep in line, going down one side of the street 
and up the other. 



THE ETERNAL CITY. 103 

The present population of Rome is claimed to be 
500,000, which seems nearer the truth than figures 
usually handed out by the Romans, as 436,000 rep- 
resented the last census. No other surviving city has 
a history showing such extremes of prosperity and 
adversity. In her palmy and powerful days the eter- 
nal city was by different historians credited with from 
2,000,000 to 3,500,000 inhabitants; this included the 
patricians, plebians and the slaves which were num- 
bered by hundreds of thousands. When the mini- 
mum was reached after her collapse she numbered 
but 17,000 souls. It required many centuries to carry 
the great city down to the borders of annihilation. 
The causes leading to this depopulation were numer- 
ous and potent. Roman history is too familiar to 
American readers to make it necessary to enumerate 
and elaborate these causes. While the Roman em- 
pire was all powerful and easily ruled the world and 
the arts, sciences and literature reached the highest 
planes of perfection ever attained before or since, the 
wickedness, the heartlessness, the cruelty and the 
blood-thirstiness of its people is without precedent 
among civilized nations. Christians were slaughtered 
by thousands in the early centuries, ostensibly to ap- 
pease the wrath of the infernal gods. These people 
not only worshipped the imaginary gods, but they 
worshipped their emperors and men highest in au- 
thority. The followers of the Nazarine were com- 
pelled to flee to the catacombs for safety, and when 
captured were subjected to death by inhuman tor- 
ture. As an object lesson to be studied by other na- 
tions past, present and future, Roman history has no 
parallel. 



104 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

From Romulus to the fall of the Roman empire, 
or for nearly two thousand years, among the leading 
attributes of the Romans was a burning ambition to 
rule ; a despotic use of power, a low appraisement of 
human life, a merciless and inhuman warfare waged 
ceaselessly upon nations that were weaker, conquest 
and plunder being the main object. 

For several centuries their increase of wealth by 
conquest was marvelous; from the Orient came gold 
almost without limit, also building materials of the 
most precious varieties, including porphyry and ala- 
baster. This raw material, which was fashioned by 
skilled workmen, much of which is still to be seen 
in the city, conveys to the sightseer by its luster and 
glitter a broad hint of the brilliancy and splendor of 
the city in the early centuries. 

We took a long ride out the Appian way, the 
great public thoroughfare leading from the city, over 
which the spoils and prisoners of war entered the 
metropolis. This historical street is well paved with 
stone nearly, or quite, as hard as flint, has high walls 
on each side that showed all the evidences of an- 
tiquity and importance as a thoroughfare in its time. 
Great trees have grown on the top of its walls, the 
street is no longer reinforced with palaces and richly 
ornamented homes, but instead are to be seen by 
thousands the mounds of debris already referred to. 

Public improvements by this progressive people 
were not confined to public buildings, the necessities 
and luxuries of the populace seem to have been amply 
provided for, parks with a capacity sufficient for ac- 
commodating at once the entire population of the 



THE ETERNAL CITY. 105 

city were tastefully laid out and scrupulously cared 
for. Bathing facilities which would accommodate 
6,000 people at once, and water from the Sabine hills 
forty miles away, of fine quality and an amount suffi- 
cient to supply every need of man and beast; por- 
tions of the old aqueduct used to convey this water 
are still to be seen supported on pillars thirty feet 
high. Some of the highly ornamented water reser- 
voirs still have a place in the middle of many of the 
leading streets and are supplying the thirst of the 
horses and donkeys. 

The Tiber dividing the city, so conspicuous in the 
early annals and for a long period playing an im- 
portant part in the chronicles and traditions of an- 
cient Rome, is encased in retaining walls perhaps 
thirty feet high, and has a width approximating 200 
feet, possibly more. The water has a yellowish tinge, 
and like the water of the Arno seemed to have been 
in contact with some ploughed land. Several fine 
bridges over the Tiber now connect the ancient and 
modern cities. 

Our guide pointed out the spot where the heroic 
Horatius so valiantly in the brave days of old with 
two others, each with broad-swords, kept back the 
forces of Lars Porsena, while the Romans hewed 
down the only bridge that spanned the Tiber, cutting 
off the opportunity for this formidable army to enter 
the ancient city. Macaulay's account of this great 
feat, of the chivalry of Horatius, his escape through 
her river when at flood tide and the reward bestowed 
upon him by the Romans, was vividly recalled. Ho- 
ratius not only hewed down the bridge, but in its 



106 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

defense there were scores of Etruria's noblest sons, 
under the well-aimed blows sank to rise no more ; as 
a reward Macauley says : 

"They gave him of the corn-land, 
That was of public right 
As much as two strong oxen 
Could plough from morn till night, 
And they made a molten image, 
And set it up on high, 
And there it stands unto this day 
To witness if I lie." 

Some of the street scenes of Rome are peculiar if 
not unique. The white oxen with high horns drawing 
huge old carts (which Hannibal or Caesar would have 
hardly considered up-to-date) along the principal 
thoroughfares guided by barefooted drivers; the 
little starved donkeys overloaded beyond endurance. 
Women with faces brown as Indians sitting on the 
walks under the sun's direct rays, knitting or sewing 
and patiently waiting for customers for their little 
stock of pears or tomatoes; with beggars by multi- 
tudes from the ancient Santa Claus type down to the 
supple youth. These flexible boys by a series oi 
somersaults keeping pace with your carriage, man- 
age to attract attention and extract their full share 
of pennies from the pockets of tourists. Their feats 
are made while wearing but a single garment, and 
their endurance is astonishing. 

The terror of the street is the irrepressible peddler 
pushing his cartload of fruit and vegetables and giv- 
ing Italian emphasis and impressiveness to a medley 
of screeches sufficient to make the welkin ring; his 



THE ETERNAL CITY. 107 

voice does not seem to be regulated by ordinance, his 
mouth opens with the wings of the morning, and at 
break of day it may be heard echoing through the 
streets and alleys. 

The business places are unlike anything found in 
this country. They are usually low, dark and gloomy, 
the sidewalk is often included with the store by a 
canvas stretched from the outer edge of the walk. 

Like all Latin cities Rome carries an immense 
stock of goods intended for her visitors. Making 
offers usually means a purchase. 

The obsequious cab-drivers are never caught 
without a full stock of cheek or gall. They remind 
one of the "cabbies" of Niagara Falls ; their vehicles 
are usually old, out-of-date affairs, while their horses 
are the poorest to be found in Europe. The plebians 
of Rome have comparatively few chances to earn 
money, and their primitive customs and styles of liv- 
ing are forcible evidences of their poverty. 



OBSEQUIES OF THE DEAD KING 



THE PANTHEON— THE COLISEUM— THE FORUM— ST. PAUL'S AND 
ST. PETER'S CATHEDRALS— ROME, THE TOURIST'S CLIMAX. 



The pomp and ceremony observed at the obse- 
quies of the late King Humbert for splendor and size 
was on a scale rarely if ever eclipsed. It required 
two hours and twenty-five minutes for the procession 
to pass our window. The pageant consisted of the 
officers of the army, the law making power and heads 
of all the departments of Italy and the leading secret 
orders, cardinals, bishops, monks and priests by 
scores. This grand procession consisted mainly of 
men above medium height, of fine form and equipped 
with appropriate insignia. Such an exhibition is rare- 
ly witnessed by an American. The hundreds of cav- 
alry horses, ten abreast, gaily equipped, and a long 
line of carriages loaded with flowers of the choicest va- 
rieties made a display never to be forgotten. The 
remains of the king were followed, first by his saddle 
horse, a bright bay, second by his son, Victor Em- 
manuel, the present king, on foot and unattended, 
third, by Queen Margarita, and the present queen in 
carriages. 

The multitudes of people that were prevented by 
policemen's clubs from completely blocking the 
streets had a generous sprinkling of anarchists, and 
there were several attempts made to create riot by 
cries of "Down with the King," which was only pre- 
vented by the presence of the soldiers. People were 

108 



OBSEQUIES OF THE DEAD KING. 109 

knocked down and trampled upon, and those injured 
and sent to hospitals numbered forty-six. The law 
which compelled the king to walk unattended is sup- 
posed to test his courage, and his refusal to take the 
risk would have branded him as a coward. There 
was a notable absence of sorrow in the faces of the 
Italians composing this grand spectacle. If vain 
glory and ostentation were -aimed at results were not 
left in doubt. The evidences of mourning every- 
where present in the processions which followed the 
remains of our lamented Lincoln and Garfield did not 
materialize. 

King Humbert's remains found a resting place in 
the Pantheon, one of the oldest structures in Rome. 
It was erected twenty-seven years B. C, is circular in 
form, 143 feet across, and fairly well preserved. The 
Pantheon was built by Agrippa as a temple for the 
worship of the heathen gods. It came into possession 
of the Roman Catholics in the sixth century, since 
which it has been used as a sepulcher for members of 
the royal family and a few others. 

It is but a short distance from the Pantheon to the 
Coliseum, the most famous landmark of Roman deso- 
lation. It is the king of ruins. More than 1,000 years 
ago its destruction begun. From its walls have been 
built basilicas, blocks and residences, but enough re- 
mains of the mournful structure to confirm the devil- 
ish records of its bloodiest monuments. The Coli- 
seum covers five acres of ground, and when com- 
pleted had a seating capacity of 87,000 people, and 
on state occasions when an unusual number of Chris- 
tians were to be slaughtered 100,000 found room with- 



110 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

in its walls. It was built in the first century, and the 
brick, cement, stone and marble used had all the en- 
durance and resistance of the best materials the world 
has ever known. From the outer to the inner walls 
there are five arches. It was 157 feet high, and the 
brick used in its construction show few signs of decay 
or deterioration, where in the least protected from 
the weather. The marble and iron clamps long ago 
disappeared, and inch by inch the most exposed por- 
tions have succumbed to the great leveler time. Its 
walls, arches and arena are overgrown with grass, 
weeds and shrubs, and an occasional tree. Birds, but- 
terflies, tree-toads and crickets were in possession of 
the gigantic ruin. During the last century some of 
the walls have been renewed and the wholesale de- 
struction of the ruin has been arrested. The spot 
where the Christian martyrs suffered is marked by a 
tall cross, and the preservation of the Coliseum is a 
tribute to the memory of the Christians who were 
sacrificed within its walls. The arena in the center of 
the amphitheatre, where 11,000 lives went out in a 
single year, the subterranean passages which admitted 
to the arena wild beasts from Palatine hill are well 
preserved. Enough of the ruin remains to give em- 
phasis and impressiveness to the annals and chronicles 
which mark the Coliseum as the center of unmitigated 
persecution, flagrant cruelty and heartless, cold- 
blooded sacrifice of innocent life. The blood of Chris- 
tians drenched the earth within this enclosure, and 
their slaughter was the occasion for holidays of the 
blood-thirsty Romans. It was under Titus christened 
by the slaughter of 5,000 wild beasts. Conceived in 



OBSEQUIES OF THE DEAD KING. Ill 

sin and brought forth in iniquity this ancient struc- 
ture will long remain a monument to the folly of the 
Romans. The Coliseum occupies a portion of the 
low ground previously used by Nero in the construc- 
tion of his golden house or palace, the wonders of 
which for magnificence had never been equaled in 
Europe. It was built soon after the great fire of 
A. D. 64, which devastated three-fourths of the city. 
Nero was charged with causing the conflagration to 
clear the ground which stretched from the Palatine 
to the Esquiline Hills, embracing in all 1,200 acres. 
Accounts of the splendor of this house are almost in- 
credible. Its walls are said to have blazed with gold 
and precious stones. Italy and the provinces were 
ransacked for funds, and Asia was levied upon for a 
liberal contribution to satisfy the rapacity of Nero. 
The grounds, meadows, lakes and shady woods were 
marvelous for their beauty and lavish expenditure. 
Nero belonged to the line of the Caesars, and with 
his suicide in 68 ended his fourteen years reign and 
a new phase of Roman imperialism was entered upon. 
If Roman literature is to be credited Nero was a 
"Monster of wickedness." During his first five years 
as emperor he won the enthusiasm of the multitude, 
and was applauded for his modesty and correction of 
many abuses. Later the "Wild beast" in his nature 
developed and without restraint or conscience he en- 
tered upon a life of recklessness and debauchery never 
equalled. His series of crimes included the murder of 
his own mother, the kicking to death of his own wife 
and the wholesale murder of wealthy Greeks for their 
money. He reveled in the biood of both friends and 



112 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

enemies when in the heat of unbridled passions. 
Through fear of assassination at the age of 31 years 
he took himself off. Fortunately his career of fan- 
tastic revelry, frightful disasters and "incarnation of 
splendid iniquity" had an early termination. 

The most fascinating spot in the eternal city is 
the Forum, embracing thirty-five acres of devastation 
and ruin. Rome for many centuries sat on her seven 
hills and ruled the world. The strength of the great 
Roman empire centered at the Forum. It was there 
that the law makers legislated, that the heads of gov- 
ernment congregated, that the wisdom of statesmen 
was proclaimed, that the eloquence of orators and the 
charm of words swayed the multitudes ; it was there 
that the most radical measures were enacted, and 
profligate uses of power were indulged in; it was 
there that caprice, intrigue and conspiracy originated; 
it was there that envy was nourished and suspicion, 
rivalry and jealousy ripened into assassination. Not- 
withstanding its present desolation this ancient spot 
has a fascination that is irresistible ; our guide pointed 
out the location of the great law making power of the 
Roman senate where the most classical and learned of 
Roman scholars and statesmen discussed the perti- 
nent issues of two thousand years ago. Here were 
located temples and basilicas, a few columns of which 
still stand ; the temple of Vesta, where the vestal fires 
were kept burning for many centuries, was located by 
a few fragments of architectural beauty. Some rem- 
nants of the gorgeous house of Pompey still remain ; 
the spot where Caesar was assassinated and where 
the political trimmer Mark Antony delivered the ora- 



OBSEQUIES OF THE DEAD KING. 113 

tion over his dead body were pointed out; also the 
place where Caesar's body was cremated by the furi- 
ous conspirators and where Cicero thrilled great audi- 
ences with his eloquence. These hallowed places are 
deeply buried under an accumulation of debris on 
the surface of which I picked some roses and some, 
to me, nameless wild flowers. A force of laborers 
were employed in excavating the great heaps of 
debris, and the week we were there they were re- 
warded by unearthing a spring which, through its 
round, well-preserved marble curb, supplied the vestal 
virgins with pure water. 

A more prolific field for human imagination can- 
not be conceived. To stand where Caesar stood, by 
far the greatest of all the great men of his time, and 
to trace the growth of his power and influence, which 
became supreme, and the wicked conspiracy ending 
in his murder because he was ambitious, and to con- 
nect all this with one's surroundings is a rare exhi- 
laration. It was in that historic locality that the 
climax of interest was reached by our party. 

There are more than three hundred churches in 
Rome, including the cathedrals; they are nearly all 
Roman Catholic, and the splendor displayed in a 
few cannot be conveyed to the reader by cheap words. 
St. Paul's something more than a mile out of the 
city, erected on the ground where St. Paul is said to 
have been buried, is an easy rival of the most elegant 
cathedrals of the world ; it has lavish interior decora- 
tions; it was founded in the third century, burned in 
the eighteenth century and re-opened in 1854. It is 
over four hundred feet in length, has eighty tall, well- 



114 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

polished granite columns each cut from a single block, 
and on its walls has two hundred and fifty-two me- 
dallion mosaic portraits of the popes, and we doubt 
whether such an aggregation of fine faces can be 
found in any other of the world's collections. St. 
Peter's is known as the largest and most costly edifice 
in the world. It was 350 years in building, at a cost 
of $50,000,000, is 651 feet in length, 429 in breadth 
at transept, has 748 columns, 46 altars and 100 statues. 
The tomb of St. Peter is underneath its dome, and 
within its walls may be located by their sepulchre and 
elegant monuments many of the popes that long since 
passed away. Polished marbles, gilded stuccos and 
grand mosaics lead in its ornamentation; to fully 
comprehend its capacity or immensity requires time. 
It affords standing room for more than ten thousand 
people, and 1,200 lights are kept constantly burning. 
From the floor to the top of the dome inside is 435 
feet. St. Peter's was designed by Michael Angelo, 
but after his death his plans were changed, and in 
spite of all its glitter its architecture is conceded to 
be a dismal failure. 

The Vatican is one of the principal attractions of 
Rome; it consists of the palace or residence of the 
pope, contains the great library, the museums, art 
collection, ancient and modern, and is claimed to 
consist of 11,000 rooms. This number is, however, 
a bare-faced exaggeration. If the plain truth were 
told it would stand without a rival as to number of 
rooms and as the most immense collection known of 
paintings, statuary, bronzes, medals, vases and all 
other varieties of art. Many of the rooms are dec- 



OBSEQUIES OF THE DEAD KING. 115 

orated with frescoes from the pencil of Michael An- 
gelo. The library is magnificent. In the art depart- 
ment may be found many of the masterpieces of 
Michael Angelo, Raphael and other masters of their 
time. Any attempt to give a list even of the most 
notable pieces of sculpture, or the most renowned 
paintings, would be tiresome to both the writer and 
the reader. We were dazed with the splendor of the 
Vatican and confused with the marvelous number of 
its rooms and their interesting contents. 

The palace of the Pope has nothing striking in its 
outward appearance. It being the week of the obse- 
quies of King Humbert no strangers were admitted 
to the presence of Pope Leo. The bodyguard of the 
Pope — all Switzers — would by their presence grace 
the highest court in the world. 

It is said that the Pope does not dare to trust 
his life in the hands of the Italian soldiery, and Switz- 
erland has the honor of furnishing the choicest of her 
young blood. 

A short tramp in the catacombs satisfied the writer 
that these subterranean channels were never intended 
for residence purposes. They are said to be 600 miles 
in extent, and we took their word for it. The faint 
light of our candle failed to reveal anything startling. 
There were many niches in the rocks where the bodies 
of dead Christians had been laid to rest, but they have 
all been removed to the surface and given a Christian 
burial. It is difficult to account for the extent of the 
catacombs, and the theory that the rock taken out 
when ground made a superior quality of cement, 



116 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

which was used for building purposes in ancient 
Rome, seems the most plausible. 

Recollections of Rome will return in later years 
a connecting link in the chain which binds together 
twenty-eight centuries. Its treasures, its cathedrals, 
its basilicas, its antique churches, its mosaics, its por- 
phyry, frescoes and remnants of spectral beauty, and 
above all its ruins, many of which are saturated with 
crude condemnations, to the pilgrims who make them 
a study are a fruitful field ; although their destruction 
saddens, what is left grows upon the sight-seer and the 
student. Hearts are softened by the absence as well 
as the presence of the creations and handiwork of a 
race of geniuses. 



PISA AND ITS ANCIENT LANDMARKS 



LEANING TOWER— GALILEO'S PENDULUM— ALLURING GENOA— ITS 
CASTLES AND PALACES. 



A long, monotonous ride from Rome to Pisa 
reaching into the night made one of the unpleasant 
features of our trip. Italian heat of mid-summer and 
a train of Italian carriages making gravel train pro- 
gress over one of the roughest roads on the conti- 
nent, produced anything but amiability. We were 
late for dinner and some of our party, unable to find 
a restaurant, went to bed hungry. 

Pisa, a city of about 25,000 inhabitants is very, very 
old, shrunken from a population of 400,000 in the 
zenith of her glory. No reliable account is given of 
its origin. For a long period during the height of 
Rome's prosperity Pisa was considered the second 
city in Italy as regards size and power. She belongs 
in the sphere of mythology. Recent discoveries in 
the excavation of old ruins, place Pisa in the list of 
prehistoric cities, upsetting previous calculations. 

Pisa has shared in the ups and downs of prosper- 
ity and misery. At one time she quarreled with her 
sister city, Genoa, and went to war. Four hundred 
ships were fitted out, manned and entered the fray. 
Pisa got thrashed and never recovered from the 
shock; both before and after this defeat, she was at 
war with the semi-barbarious Huns, her forces were 
slaughtered and her property destroyed. 



117 



118 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

The history of Pisa is a repetition of the old Ital- 
ian story, saturated with barbarity and cruelty. 

The city is located in the midst of a rich, fertile 
country, generally low, with a tendency to being 
swampy. The soil is well cultivated and planted with 
lupines and olives. Its surroundings as far as the eye 
could reach, from the top of its leaning tower, re- 
sembles a well-kept garden, corn, and grapes for wine 
purposes are grown in abundance. 

The peasants are better clothed and apparently 
better nourished than in most parts of Italy. 

The city has the form of a square and is situated 
about thirty feet above sea level, lying along both 
banks of the Arno, which empties into the Mediter- 
ranean about six miles below. The two halves 
of the town are connected by four bridges. The 
old town is surrounded by a high wall surmount- 
ed with battlements and gateways, which can be 
entered by several different routes. The Arno is digni- 
fied by high retaining walls on each side, extending 
up perhaps four feet above the street. This masonry 
is heavy, substantial and ornamental. Fishing with 
hook and line from the top of these walls seemed to 
be the leading vocation of the loungers. They fished 
without results but kept up appearances nevertheless. 
I was reminded of the lines of Homer as I watched 
these ancient fishermen, where, in speaking of Jove 
and his fishing outfit, he said : 

"His pole was of the sturdy oak, 
His line a cable ship's ne'er broke, 
His bait was of the dragon's tail, 
And Jove sat there and bobbed for whale." 



PISA AND ITS ANCIENT LANDMARKS. 119 

From the sluggish movement of these people 
something less than whale for breakfast would seem 
adequate to their needs. 

It is said that the average citizen of Pisa is a 
drowsy, listless, stupid inhabitant, owing to atmos- 
pheric conditions, that the uniform temperature of the 
year also contributes to the heavy, cloggy inertia, 
which affects its people. 

Pisa has one great historical attraction, it lean- 
ing tower, about one hundred and eighty feet high, 
which is familiar to the civilized world. Why it 
leans is one of the unsolved mysteries, that it leans 
can be seen from afar off. Its walls are fourteen feet 
out of plumb, so that a line suspended from the top 
on one side strikes the earth fourteen feet from the 
base of the tower. This marvelous structure was 
begun in the eleventh century and was completed 
about two hundred years afterward. It is cylindrical 
in form, has a diameter of fifty feet, and a stairway of 
three hundred and thirty steps leads to the summit. 
The walls are thirteen feet thick at the base and about 
one-half as thick at the top, and are constructed 
throughout of marble. It is divided into eight stories, 
each story having an outside gallery seven feet in 
width. The basement is surrounded by a range of 
semi-circular arches supported by fifteen columns, and 
above this are six arcades of thirty columns each. 
The eighth story belfry is much smaller in diameter. 
The tower derives its name from its leaning propen- 
sity and appears to the observer to be on the point 
of falling. 

There is no trouble in convincing yourself to a 



120 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

mathematical certainty that ascending the tower to 
the top is a safe proposition, but in spite of this you 
have a spooky, creepy feeling as you crawl over on 
the leaning side and peer down the one hundred and 
eighty-three feet, you can hardly resist the conviction 
that it is not only going to fall, but that it is actually 
falling. 

The best authorities of late attribute the leaning 
of the tower to a defect in its foundation. They say 
it was built upon wooden piles driven into the boggy 
ground, and after being carried up about thirty-five 
feet, it began to settle to one side and the levels were 
altered so as to keep the center of gravity within the 
base. In our generation asylums are built where 
lunatics are confined who would make such a reckless 
expenditure of great sums of money. 

The seven bells in the eighth story, constructed of 
the very best metal, assist in holding the balance of 
power by a majority of them being located on the 
strong side, or opposite the over-hanging wall. The 
heaviest of these bells weighs six tons. 

Near the leaning tower is the cathedral and the 
baptistry. The cathedral is the oldest and the bap- 
tistry is made famous by the fact that Galileo made a 
discovery within its walls in the fifteenth century 
which was the beginning of a new era in science. 
Happening to observe the oscillation of a lamp casu- 
ally set in motion in the cathedral, Galileo was struck 
with the apparent measured regularity of its vibration, 
and having compared these vibrations with the beat 
of his own pulse, he concluded that by means of this 
regularity of oscillation a simple pendulum might be 



PISA AND ITS ANCIENT LANDMARKS. 121 

made valuable for the exact measurement of time. 
He applied his discovery to the construction of a 
clock for astronomical purposes. 

Galileo was but eighteen years of age when mak- 
ing this discovery and was tortured on account of it. 
He lived to be seventy-eight, but probably passed 
away without a full comprehension of the value of his 
invention. The multitude of dollar clocks and brass 
watches twenty-three carats fine came too late to 
haunt the dreams of this great public benefactor. 

Pisa is not without architecture. Her old public 
edifices reflect the genius of the ancients, and as a 
home of art the city is abreast of other ancient land- 
marks of like population. 

There is a long list of jaw-breaking Italian names 
connected with the best samples of her paintings and 
sculpture; some of them are familiar, but the list of 
new ones is confusing. Even Michael Angelo is rep- 
resented or credited with some of the masterpieces. 
Michael Angelo was a great artist, a great man, and 
lived to a good old age. That he could get through 
with all the work credited to him in an ordinary life- 
time seems out of the question. Had Methuselah 
been an artist and were he honored with all the paint- 
ings, sculpture and architecture standing to the credit 
of Michael Angelo he would not have earned the rep- 
utation of being an idler, and would seem to have been 
a very busy man. 

Pisa boasts of one of the best^universities in Italy. 
The Campo Santo, the principal cemetery, lying north 
of the cathedral, was long ago made sacred in the 



122 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

estimate of the Pisans by the importation of fifty-three 
ship loads of earth from Mount Calvary in which 
the tombs are set. 

The leaning tower, the cathedral, the baptistry 
and a few other points occupied the forenoon, when 
we resumed our winding way along the shore of the 
Mediterranean to Genoa. 

The Mediterranean sparkling in the sunlight 
reaching from Gibraltar to Jerusalem (2,100 miles), 
and across to the northern shore of Africa, was a sub- 
ject for reflection. Could its waters speak, the tales 
of conquest, of piracy, of naval combats, ignominious 
defeats and brilliant achievements covering twenty- 
five centuries, an interesting history would be re- 
vealed. 

Between Pisa and Genoa there are tunnels and 
tunnels, dark, damp and dirty. Genoa, a city by the 
sea, which in an early day earned the title of "Superb" 
has about 150,000 inhabitants, mostly engaged in 
commercial and maritime pursuits. The city does a 
thriving business in the line of exports and imports. 

Genoa is unique in its construction, the city is 
upon edge, has a very moderate amount of land that 
may be termed level. 

The narrow belt along the coast is densely popu- 
lated and for quite a distance up the side of the moun- 
tain is thickly settled, but above, along the mountain 
side, in the far distance are to be seen palaces, 
churches, elegant residences occupied by the elite, 
many of which are limited to a niche in the hill side, 
while others occupy an artificial terrace. 

The streets leading to or through that portion of 



PISA AND ITS ANCIENT LANDMARKS. 123 

the city are hardly worthy of the name, many of them 
are simply paths, too steep for a vehicle of any sort. 
Some of the wealthy residents are carried in chairs 
to and from their homes, while others depend upon 
the back of a donkey for transportation. This picture 
along the native walls of the Apennines, representing 
the highest plane of architecture, was an enchanting 
one. Olive and orange orchards, and pomegranate 
trees, ornamental shrubbery and rare flowers added 
to the picture. Genoa has her smart set, her women 
are stylish and many of them beautiful. In her social 
functions Genoa excels all other Italian cities. 

She has eighty churches, a hundred palaces and 
much that is ancient and interesting. As everybody 
knows Genoa claims to be the birth place of Colum- 
bus. She has two autograph letters on exhibition 
from the hand of the great discoverer. The monu- 
ment to Columbus is a stupendous affair of elegant 
design. 

An Italian city without a wall would be a curios- 
ity, and the walls of Genoa having eight gates consti- 
tuted a part of the defenses in the brave days of old. 
In addition to these walls there were numerous forts 
and batteries. But in spite of these she was soundly 
whipped and pillaged by the Saracens nine hundred 
years ago. 

The Genoese were born fighters and ancient his- 
tory records struggles with their neighbors in war, 
which we Americans call "civil." The Genoese have 
a well established hobby, the evidence of which is 
found in the famous cemeteries. Probably no other 
people in the world take as much pride in their city 



124 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

of the dead; her palatial tombs and vast marble cor- 
ridors and exquisite monuments abound in grace and 
beauty. There is a rivalry which expenditure of cold 
cash hardly seems to limit. While New Orleans leads 
in this respect in America, Genoa is said to have a 
long lead in Europe. It was with a sigh of regret 
that we took the last panoramic view of that portion 
of the Apenines occupied by this peculiar city. 



FASCINATIONS OF THE ALPS 



VENERABLE BALE— NATIVE LAND OF THE FRENCHMAN— HIS 
PARADISE— DELIGHTFUL LANDSCAPE. 



From Genoa to Milan, five hours, (miles never 
in Europe) was much of it picturesque. The exten- 
sive marble quarries in the outskirts of Genoa, which 
contribute so largely to supplying the wants of civil- 
ization in every quarter of the globe, was the first and 
only interest of the kind seen in our travels. During 
the past century Vermont granite has made extensive 
inroads into the demand for Italian marble, in other 
words the American demand for marble has been 
largely superseded by granite of superior quality. 

We encountered the never failing tunnels, we rode 
along on the edge of precipices and were treated to 
a panorama of fruitful fields, vast orchards and rocky 
hillsides. 

At Milan we were at home for a night in the Grand 
Hotel, our hostelry pre-empted on our way to Rome. 
An early morning review of some of the sights pre- 
viously enjoyed in'the interesting city of Milan, and 
we were off for Bale or Basel, nine hours away. 

Usually repeating a railroad ride or taking a back 
track is monotonous, not so in this case. Our trip 
south through and over the Alps by St. Gothard's 
Pass was made during a rainy day, when the clouds 
hung low and the mists enveloped some of the highest 
peaks. Our return was quite the contrary. It was 
one of those bright, crisp days which put men and 

126 



126 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

mountains at their best, and the views of the snow clad 
peaks, the villas, the rude cottages and the quaint 
little villages, were all enjoyed beyond measure. The 
scenes from those mountain tops are awfully grand. 
Word-painting can never do them justice. To be ap- 
preciated they must be seen. Lake Como and Lake 
Lucerne had lost none of their splendor, while the 
little city of Lucerne retained all its former attractive- 
ness. 

Between Lucerne and Bale is a rich agricultural 
country, at that time abounding in great crops of 
grain, hay and vegetables. It is also a fruit country 
and the apple orchards were loaded with fruit of de- 
sirable quality. Barring Zurich, Bale is the largest 
city in Switzerland, its population being 90,000. It is 
the wealthiest of all her cities and its history is an- 
tique. Lying on both sides of the Rhine it is connec- 
ted by a bridge 800 feet in length. Its climate is 
mild and not subjected to the radical changes of many 
other parts of Europe. The population of Bale is 
much less than during the middle ages. The city 
has had troubles of her own, thirty years of war at one 
stretch devastated a large portion of the town. 

The great reform movement of the fourteenth and 
fifteenth centuries which occurred in and around 
Bale, makes the city conspicuous in the annals of his- 
tory. Luther's writings were first printed in Bale 
and the reformer's conflict with the Roman govern- 
ment occurred in this city, which has since been Pro- 
testant. The fine old gothic cathedral erected in 1010 
still stands, also the church of "The Barefooted 
Friars," no longer used as a church but as a store 



FASCINATIONS OF THE ALPS. 127 

house. A university, a library containing 120,000 vol- 
umes, and other educational and religious landmarks, 
connecting the present with the past, giving this old 
Switzer city a flavor of richness and adoration. 

The industrial phases of Bale are typical of the 
thrift noticeable in other Switzerland cities. Two 
million dollars worth of ribbons are annually manu- 
factured. There are also factories for the manufac- 
ture of woolens, linen, cotton, leather and salt ; enough 
in this line to keep the people busy and the wolf from 
their doors. It was a pleasure to return to an atmos- 
phere of prosperity, to be relieved from the appeals 
of the puny, sickly, saffron-skinned beggars, and the 
sights of destitution and poverty. 

The Switzers of Bale all seem to be well fed, well 
clothed and happy. There were no half-starved 
donkeys, or broken down, abused horses in sight, in 
fact there were no horses in use that would be worth 
less than $125 to $150 in Elyria. 

The writer took a long walk through the residence 
portion of Bale. The residences are neither elegant 
nor strikingly attractive, but all seemed to be substan- 
tially built, and both the residences and the grounds 
in most cases were protected with high walls on the 
top of which were rods of steel or iron with sharp 
points, suggesting protection against invasion of ene- 
mies from without or within the city. 

Our stay at the Hotel Switzerhof was rewarded 
with the usual German hospitality. Although it was 
August and the heat was oppressive we were expected 
to sleep between two feather beds, and dumping the 



128 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

upper one in the corner of the room brought no im- 
munity from the sweltering propensities of the other. 

The menu at the Switzerhof offered no variations 
from the regular European standard. For breakfast 
we had coffee, and rolls having a shell hard enough 
to defy mastication by ordinary processes, honey, 
either fish or beef without vegetables. At noon we 
lunched or shirked for ourselves taking what was 
offered in the restaurants and for a 7 o'clock dinner 
there was a grand spread of nine to eleven courses 
requiring from one and a half to two hours to com- 
plete the program. These dinners are never prepared 
without a draft upon the poultry yard. It is safe to 
say that no table d'hote dinner is ever spread in Eu- 
rope without chicken. It is not the kind of chicken 
prepared by our wives and mothers in America, but 
usually the chicken which seemed to have lived in 
vain, whose life seemed to have been a dismal failure 
owing to a want of skill needed in the kitchen. I 
offer no criticism upon the beef, the mutton and the 
fish from which we were allowed to choose, but draw 
a line upon the cooked European chicken. 

France with 204,000 square miles, or five times 
the area of Ohio, has something more than 40,000,000 
people, and her colonies in Africa with the islands of 
the sea, contain 32,000 square miles and 1,500,000 
inhabitants. 

France is favored with one of the finest climates 
in Europe, although there are variations. It is an 
agricultural country, the best portions of which are 
not surpassed for fertility. 

The French farmers supply their commonwealth 



FASCINATIONS OF THE ALPS. 129 

with wheat and as a rule have a surplus for export. 
It is not uncommon for France to produce 300,000,- 
000 bushels, or one-half as much as the whole United 
States. Grape and wine production lead all other 
countries, but her wines and brandies are mostly con- 
sumed within her own borders ; enough is exported to 
America to enable our importers to practice brazen 
deception by the use of foreign labels. 

The eastern portion of France as seen from the 
railroad was disappointing; much of the soil is poor 
and the peasantry were apparently in hard lines; the 
residences are often in groups and the stacks of grain 
and hay mixed with low sheds made a unique combi- 
nation. These houses are mostly roof, composed of 
red tile, the eaves often within six or seven feet of 
the ground. Methods of farming in that section are 
primitive, the maid milks the cow with the crumpled 
horn in the morning, hitches her to the plow or the 
cart, with perhaps a steer or a mule for a companion, 
and performs a day's labor. 

The French are noted for their frugality, industry 
and thrift. They thrive and accumulate where many 
of our Americans would fail to make a living. 

As a nation they have shown great recuperative 
power. Their war with the Germans in the early sev- 
enties was an expensive affair. Besides the loss of 
more than 5,000 square miles of valuable territory in 
Alsace and Lorraine, they were compelled to part 
with a large amount of money. Predictions that 
they would be bankrupted were freely made, but it re- 
quired but a few years for a full recovery of the money. 
They parted with the land, however, grudgingly, and 



130 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

their sighs of regret have not ceased. Their invid- 
ious jealousy of the Germans will be a long time dying 
out. 

As every one knows the French are notorious 
as being the most impulsive, passionate and erratic 
of all civilized nations. Self-government of the 
French is an anomaly, an experiment, which will 
hardly maintain permanency. France has tried all 
sorts of government. She has had tyranny and revo- 
lution, been ruled by kings and emperors. Her soil 
has been repeatedly saturated with blood, but at 
present, as a republic, she is running along smoothly. 

As we approached Paris the landscapes were more 
attractive, the soil more fertile ; there was not a fence 
nor a stone wall to mar the beauty, not a barn in 
France of any size and the thatched stacks were really 
ornamental. There was no neglect in road-making, 
no rubbish in sight. Everything orderly, the closely 
trimmed hedges and the cosy cottages enveloped in 
flowers and shrubbery, made an attractive picture. 
Here and there we were reminded of the feudal days 
of the middle ages, by the presence of an old castle in 
ruins. 

Few Frenchmen leave their native land for good, 
and as seen within one hundred miles of Paris in 
August, 1900, this fact is readily accounted for. 

The tedious, tiresome ride of nine hours locked in 
a French carriage facing an uncongenial stranger, 
had to be endured ; even the luxury of a drink of cold 
water was denied us and the heat and dust was oppres- 
sive. From start to finish we were in charge of uni- 
formed, shoulder-strapped, suave officers or flunkies, 



FASCINATIONS OF THE ALPS. 131 

whose smiling and simpering partially offset the hard- 
ships referred to. 

Accidents on French railroads are rare, first they 
have no grade crossings and second they have no 
coroners, nor tender hearted juries to render verdicts 
of "unavoidable." Negligence of official duty in 
France means punishment. Everything there is 
subordinated to system, it requires a long string of 
red tape to load a train of passenger carriages, to start 
the train requires more red tape, and the discipline ob- 
served in the conduct of the train across the country 
is voluminous enough for the movement of a standing 
army. Some portion of the vast army in France is 
always in sight and always making a show of being 
on duty. Unless bribed they rummage your baggage 
for things dutiable, but our conductors informed us 
that the mercenary geniuses were low-priced and 
easily handled. Fearing that prejudice against the 
French army on account of the treatment of Dreyfus 
may lead to unjust criticism, I will make no further 
comments on the French armv. 



GLITTERING PARIS 



MECCA FOR THE SPORTING ELEMENT— THE HOME OP FASHION 
AND THINGS BEAUTIFUL— HABITS OF THE PARISIANS. 



Paris, at last, the metropolis of Bonnie France, 
the center of the universe if splendor, glitter and ex- 
travagance are criterions from which to judge. Ex- 
penditures in this city of fashion for ostentation, 
gayety and things that shine and glisten, are simply 
prodigal. Paris is the mother of fashion, the home 
of decorations that are gaudy and the hot-bed of ex- 
cesses; the city where wickedness thrives and sin is 
nourished, where all phases of society are living for 
the present, or for what there is in life for them today. 
The atmosphere of Paris is contaminated with the 
sporting element, and poisoned by the presence of 
bawdy houses brazenly plying their vocations with the 
sanction of the city authorities. The standards or 
foundations of society are smirched with immoralities 
which are suppressed even in New York. 

The churches of Paris are slimly attended. Patri- 
otism with the French people comes before religion, 
which accounts for the scarcity of churches and the 
absence of worshippers. 

Paris has 2,660,000 inhabitants and a large portion 
of the city is a fairy land. In its construction and its 
decorations everything has been subordinated to the 
one idea of beautiful. 

The parks, boulevards, public gardens, salons, and 



GLITTERING PARIS. 133 

cafes are supplied with every ornament necessary 
to make them attractive. The trimming of the trees 
and the shrubbery, the cultivation of the wilderness 
of flowers, the arrangements of the shady nooks, the 
landscapes and the quiet retreats have a fascination 
seldom if ever found in any other country. 

The monuments throughout the city in great num- 
bers and great variety, are a study of themselves. 
Everything in Paris is Frenchy, from the waxed 
moustached, kidded porter, or the faultlessly dressed 
table waiter looking longingly and smilingly for a 
franc as a reward for some fancied favor, to the irre- 
pressible cabman lying low for an opportunity to col- 
lect from you twice the amount he is entitled to by a 
city ordinance. 

In all the long string of servants anxious to ac- 
cept your favors, you look in vain for one to whom 
you can give direction, almost without exception they 
are as dumb as horse blocks. To break through the 
shell of a Frenchman and impress him with your 
English or to understand his incomprehensible jargon 
exhausts both patience and vitality. In Germany by 
repeating, by running the risk of being called verbose, 
by multiplied gestures and loud tones, you make an 
impression upon the poor fellow, get what you go 
after and walk away in triumph, leaving him with the 
false notion that he really understands English. In 
Italy you have about the same run of luck with the 
Italians, but in France your methods are a dead fail- 
ure. You are up against a stone wall. The French- 
man is utterly deaf to all sounds or semblance of Eng- 
lish. If you wish to give your cabman directions 



134 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

you proceed to have him spell after you the name 
of the street and number but to save his bacon he can- 
not pronounce either and at last throws up his hands 
in despair; you may call him the champion blockhead 
of Paris, or the prince of idiots, and he takes it all in 
good part nodding assent to every declaration you 
make. While you are wondering whether he has 
ever been vaccinated for stupidity or whether the dis- 
ease is afflicting him in the natural way, your curiosity 
is aroused to know what is his probable opinion of 
you. While he can neither understand nor be under- 
stood by the average American tourist, he no doubt 
thinks, or at least he thinks he thinks, and has opin- 
ions all his own. 

The residents of Paris are generally pleased to 
live out of doors seven or eight months of the year. 
You see them swarming in the public gardens, in the 
parks, in the shade of their verandas, along the boule- 
vards, or sipping wine or chocolate in front of the 
drinking places. From 4 p. m. until midnight in the 
popular portions of the city, they are swarming. 

A life free from care and responsibility is the aim 
of the average Parisian and yet there is a larger per- 
centage of suicides and homicides than in any other 
city on the globe. 

From perpendicular, rocky heights, affording a 
fall of nearly two hundred feet, in the northern 
suburbs of the city we were informed that an average 
of five persons a week, the year around, made a leap 
from the pinnacle to the jagged rocks below. 

Paris shares in the blessings and miseries of 
antiquity. Julius Caesar, before the Christian era, 



GLITTERING PARIS. 135 

found in the identical spot now occupied by the great 
metropolis a little hamlet of mud huts or hovels, oc- 
cupied by the Gallic tribes. 

Some of the customs of the Parisians are repre- 
hensible. They are under indictment by the world 
at large for a phase of brutality exhibited toward their 
dumb animals that has no parallel. The treatment of 
their horses is unmerciful and often sickening. Of 
the thousands and thousands of horses exported from 
America to Paris to be used for exposition purposes, 
probably not one in ten was worth wintering when the 
exposition closed. They were neither well-fed nor 
well-cared for, they were loaded without stint and 
whipped in the most inhuman and brutal manner. 

Whether their consumption of horse beef con- 
tributes to this sort of savagery is a question. The 
horses slaughtered for beef or for their meat annually 
in Paris are estimated as high as 50,000, one firm kill- 
ing 10,000 a year. This beef is mostly consumed by 
the lower classes, laboring people who haven't the 
price of a steak from the loin of a steer. This horse 
beef is said to be juiceless and lacking flavor. Amer- 
icans object to horse steaks on account of prejudice. 
The horse is the cleanest of all domestic animals and 
if the meat had the relish of pork it ought to, with the 
prejudice eliminated, stand an even chance with the 
American pig, which we consume in great numbers, 
as everybody knows pigs are the scavengers of all cre- 
ation. They eat the refuse of the table, the kitchen 
and the barn yard, and we eat the pigs. 

We took a carriage drive through the city that 
lasted throughout the day. The number of fine bus- 



136 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

iness places and the immense quantity of goods on 
sale were an amazement. How so many merchants 
manage to live even in the second largest city in the 
world is a mystery. We visited the heights of a 
northern suburb, where the guns were located during 
the siege of Paris in 1871. Four months of steady 
fire by the Germans brought the Parisians to terms. 
The complete blockade of the city starved them out. 
The keen demands of appetite proved too much and 
their stomachs surrendered. 

To enumerate the elegant palaces and fine old piles 
of marble scattered about the city would be a severe 
task. The Louvre and Tuilleries, now practically 
one, covering sixty acres of ground in the heart of 
the city, is a wonder to all strangers. The lower story 
of the Louvre is a vast retail store covering acres and 
acres, with miles and miles of counters, and clerks 
by the thousand. Wanamaker's of New York, and 
Marshall Field's or Siegel-Cooper's of Chicago, are 
infants compared to this huge conglomeration. The 
exhaustless variety of merchandise on sale, embrac- 
ing the products of every clime, is suggestive of chaos 
and confusion. The system employed in the arrange- 
ment of this gigantic category is not perfect in its or- 
der or regularity. The Bon Marche on the other side 
of the city, the leading rival of the Louvre, is in better 
form, more attractive and managed with better 
method. At the Bon Marche it is only necessary to 
ask for what you don't see and it is produced imme- 
diately. In these great establishments there is a full 
supply of clerks, speaking fairly good English, which 
seems necessary, when account is taken of 50,000 



GLITTERING PARIS. 137 

Americans having become residents of Paris, and the 
multitudes of American tourists, and their wants are 
considered. 

The statue of Lafayette erected in the Garden of 
the Tuilleries and paid for by the pennies contributed 
by American school children, is a fitting credit to this 
country as well as a mark of respect to our faithful 
friend at the time of this country's greatest need. 

The palace Vendome, famous since 1658, when the 
Grande Monarch built it ; the Arch of Triumph mod- 
eled after the one in Rome, with its bronze horses on 
the top and the central place of all, the Place de la 
Concorde were all visited and admired. The obelisk 
of Luxor with fountains and wonderful statuary on 
every side is a feast for the student. Then there is the 
Champs de Elysees, more than a mile in length in the 
handsomest part of the city, offering lovely prome- 
nades, nooks and shelters, where you may take lux- 
urious ease. 

The architecture of Paris embraces all the most 
captivating designs (the building material a composi- 
tion called staff leads in the construction). Staff is as 
white as chalk. Our hotel, the Palais de Orsay, just 
completed, a hostelry with six hundred rooms, erec- 
ted without much reference to cost and ornamented 
with gilt, was an elegant sample of Parisian skill and 
good taste, but apparently lacking in durability. The 
mass of the people in Paris are a social set, while caste 
is not lacking, the tendency to huddle together and to 
move in flocks is everywhere noticeable. This incli- 
nation or drift is noticeable in and about the drinking 
places which are everywhere present. Drinks in 



138 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

Paris are mainly of a light order, light native wines, 
beer with a small percentage of alcohol and chocolate. 
These drinks are sipped and usually taken with delib- 
eration, whole families joining in the social glass. 
The American custom of gulping down alcoholic 
drinks and getting full on the shortest possible notice, 
does not prevail in Paris. 

Drunkenness of a besotted nature is not common. 
The faces and forms of the drinking Frenchman do 
not betray that swollen, apoplectic condition especially 
evident among the beer drinkers of this country. In 
comparing the drink habits of the Parisians with the 
habits and customs prevailing in this country but one 
conclusion is reached, namely, that the American who 
must drink, or thinks he must, could with propriety 
and profit take lessons from the Frenchman on his 
native heath, or what would be still better, to con- 
clude, that owing to his peculiar temperament and to 
the American trend, the wisest, best and safest thing 
to do is to let all alcoholic drinks severely alone. 



FRENCH HEROES 



NAPOLEON AND VICTOR HUGO— FALL. OF THE BASTILE— CITY 
PRISONS— THE SEINE— EIFFEL TOWER AND THE TROCADERO. 



Among the admirable traits of the Parisians is de- 
votion to their heroes. Two great characters tower 
above all others, Napoleon Bonaparte and Victor 
Hugo. 

A carriage drive to the Hotel Des Invalides, the 
home for worn-out soldiers of the nation and the 
burial place of the great Napoleon, made deep and 
lasting impressions. The erection of the immense 
home begun in 1670 and completed long afterward; 
it is 612 feet long and four stories high. It has a 
capacity for accommodating 6,000 soldiers, but a 
majority of the rooms were empty. It surrounds 
an immense court paved with a rough, flinty rock 
not altogether attractive. It being the last resting 
place of Napoleon, calls the multitudes who visit 
Paris to pay their respects and to satisfy their curio- 
sity. When the remains of the general were brought 
from St. Helena they reposed first in the church 
in close proximity to the present tomb. The dome, 
under which the remains of the Corsican now lie, 
stilled forever, is 320 feet high, that is to the top 
of the cross, which surmounts it. To reach the 
sarcophagus you descend a winding stairway, you 
finally look down into a sort of an arena or crypt ; the 
sarcophagus consists of a single mass of porphyry, 
weighing over sixty tons, being twelve feet long and 

139 



140 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

six feet broad, shaped not unlike an ordinary burial 
case. The dying request of Napoleon is engraved 
over the entrance to the crypt in these words: "I 
desire that my ashes may repose on the banks of 
the Seine in the midst of the French people whom I 
have ever loved." An elegant statue of a caged eagle 
stands near. More than $2,000,000 were spent in 
building this monument and in beautifying its sur- 
roundings. 

Around the outer edge of the crypt are dozens of 
battle flags, tattered and old, which saw service in the 
ranks of Napoleon's armies. 

Grizzled and gray old veterans, heroes of many 
struggles, are sitting around, living over again the 
glories of their fair land and awaiting the approach 
of the grim reaper. 

All France revels and delights in the feats and 
achievements of the greatest general since Hannibal 
and Alexander. For the present, France has had 
enough of war, but the tribute they pay Napoleon 
Bonaparte smacks of idolatry. They tell us that at 
St. Helena, Napoleon saw clearly how he might have 
conquered at Waterloo, but there must have been 
little satisfaction to him in the alas! ''too late," "too 
late." 

We visited Napoleon's gate in a distant part of the 
city, a massive structure 172 feet high, through which 
none but royalty or rulers are allowed to pass. It is 
a magnificent arch, highly ornamented and decorated 
with costly materials. We were informed that the re- 
mains of the late Victor Hugo were for eight days 
kept in state under this arch, where the multitudes 
were permitted to take a last look at their dead friend. 



FRENCH HEROES. 141 

Victor Hugo is remembered not only as an author, 
a poet, a sculptor, and a genius, but as a man. He 
was one of the greatest writers of his day, and the 
door to the innermost recesses of his heart and soul 
was always ajar. He endured persecutions, he ac- 
cepted banishment but lived to command the popular 
applause of his countrymen and passed away in the full 
enjoyment of an esteem amounting to hero worship. 
In a single day in February, 1881, 700,000 people 
moved by a spontaneous impulse defiled in a dense 
crowd before the great poet's house and greeted him 
with their acclamations. The natures, the missions 
and the practices of these two great leaders, Napoleon 
and Victor Hugo, were as unlike as it is possible to 
imagine, but the memory of each is cherished with a 
tenderness that is touching. 

The poems, the fiction, the genius and the wisdom 
of Victor Hugo, which raised his fellow-men into 
higher levels, will live and remain fresh long after the 
brilliant achievements of Napoleon have lost their 
luster. Admirers of these characters may honestly 
differ as to the most fitting application of the Latin 
phrase, Sic transit gloria mundi. 

The broad, deep, dark, still waters of the Seine, 
which for eight miles courses through the city, offer 
a cheap and agreeable method of transportation. 
There are scores of passenger boats with accommo- 
dations for one or two hundred people, noiselessly ply- 
ing between different stations, numbered by dozens. 
In a ride to Vincennes, four miles up stream, we 
passed under twenty-four bridges, all arched and 
nearly all elaborated by fine finish. 



142 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

The location of the bastile was pointed out to our 
party, while we listened to the blood-curdling story 
of the fall of this famous French prison. It was orig- 
inally the castle of Paris and was built by order of 
Charles V, in the thirteenth century. It was intended 
as a defense against the English ; when converted into 
a prison in the sixteenth century it was provided with 
vast bulwarks and ditches. It had four towers of five 
stories each, over which there was a gallery armed 
with cannon. Under these towers and partly in the 
cellars, below the level of the earth, prisoners were 
confined. The Unfortunate inmates of these prisons 
were so effectually removed from the world without, 
as to be often forgotten, and there were cases where it 
was impossible to find the cause or the origin of their 
incarceration. The inmates were usually guilty of 
political despotism, court intrigue, or ecclesiastical 
tyranny. They consisted of noblemen, authors, 
priests and publishers. On July 14, 1789, an armed 
mob worked up to a state of fury by the reactionary 
policy of the court, surrounded the bastile, besieged 
it, killed and wounded 150 people, and captured the 
famous prison, the fall of which changed the current 
of events in France. This important event is still 
commemorated by a celebration each and every year. 

The city prison with its dark, grim old walls was 
shown us, and its records of scenes of blood which 
were detailed in all their horrid particulars.. We saw 
the broad-ax or guillotine and the block where decap- 
itation had been practiced for ages. There was the 
groove in the pavement, fashioned to carry away or 
conduct the life-blood of the unfortunate culprit. 



FRENCH HEROES. 143 

Five prisoners were inside the walls awaiting execu- 
tion from which there was no alternative. 

The Madeline, the most famous cathedral in Paris, 
with its stately columns, was designed by Napoleon I, 
as a sort of pantheon where statues of the greatest 
heroes of France might be placed, but Napoleon was 
in exile before its completion and it was dedicated to 
public worship. There is little in the look outside 
suggesting a church but it makes up for this on the in- 
side as it contains a world of costly ornaments. 

The Trocadero, built for the uses of the Paris Ex- 
position in 1878, is a museum of museums. If you 
wish to study ethnology by the month the Trocadero 
offers an opportunity. 

The Eiffel Tower, 985 feet high, just oposite, com- 
mands a full view, not only of the city, but a vast ter- 
ritory beyond. From the top of the tower men and 
women on the streets below appear about as large as 
brownies, and the topmost floor was too far removed 
from the common level to get an intelligent or satis- 
factory view. 

The construction of the tower is a marvel, built 
entirely of iron and steel, its four feet are thirty rods 
apart at the base. Many hundreds can be accommo- 
dated at once upon its three floors, where refresh- 
ments are served, where there are opportunities to in- 
vest your money in souvenirs, or to write to your 
friends at home. 

Going back to the Trocadero and its tower or ob- 
servatory from which you look down at the city lying 
at your feet, including the exposition grounds, the 
view is simply grand ; and then the rooms filled with 



144 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

sculpture and paintings, works of art, gems, the most 
wonderful aquarium, where the inhabitants of the 
ocean could be studied; the natives of nearly every 
country on the globe in wax figures, families dressed 
in native costumes, in groups surrounded with agri- 
cultural and industrial implements ; the family homes 
and all they contain as seen in all the grand divisions 
of the globe and in many of the islands of the sea. 

To give a detailed account of the Paris Exposi- 
tion at this late date would hardly be expected or ap- 
preciated. As an aggregation of the world's handi- 
work it was never equalled. Comparing it with the 
Chicago exposition, it fell far short in many partic- 
ulars and excelled in many others. Extending along 
both banks of the Seine its buildings were at a great 
disadvantage by being wedged in between densely 
populated portions of Paris. In other words the ex- 
position buildings which were many of them elegant, 
equal to the best seen in Chicago, showed to a great 
disadvantage by reason of a lack of room. 

Representations of the world's industries were on 
a scale never before approached. 

At Philadelphia in 1876 the great Corliss engine 
was the center of attraction and the admiration of the 
populace, at Paris within thirty minutes I counted 
sixteen engines in operation that would average 
nearly or quite as large as the famous Corliss. The 
Paris Exposition as a show was a grand success ; as an 
enterprise a financial failure. Hundreds of people 
who bought privileges on the grounds were bank- 
rupted owing to lack of attendance, although the tick- 



FRENCH HEROES. 145 

ets of admission during the last two months were sold 
at five and six cents apiece. 

England gave Paris the go-by on account of some 
old scores. A Liverpool gentleman informed me that 
the treatment received by Queen Victoria in the Paris 
newspapers in March, 1900, kept 5,000,000 of English 
people away from the exposition. He said "I am a 
large manufacturer and belonged there with my 
goods, I fully intended to go until the insults were 
heaped upon the Queen, whom we all love, after 
which I felt it my duty to resent the injury and stayed 
away." 

This was an unusual demonstration of self-denial 
but served to illustrate the fidelity of the English peo- 
ple to their rulers. France paid dear for the slanders 
of an unscrupulous press, the raillery of which was 
entirely uncalled for. Such freaks of the Paris news- 
papers are not uncommon but the enterprise of the 
French people in the production of this vast exhibi- 
tion is worthy of praise. Its collection of paintings 
and statuary was on a scale never before attempted 
and is not likely to be excelled in the world's history. 



BEAUTIFUL VERSAILLES 



FOUNTAINS AND PARKS— LAVISH EXPENDITURE— AN ABYSS OF 
EXCESSES— ARTISTIC COLLECTIONS IN ITS MONSTER PALACE 
—SOCIAL ROTTENNESS AND UNCHASTE INDECENCIES. 



Versailles is a suburb of Paris, a city of 60,000 in- 
habitants, lying eleven miles down the Seine. It is 
an old city, historically and in fact. It has a record 
for many things peculiar and unique. It has long 
been the leading play ground of the Parisians. 

To reach Versailles by public thoroughfare you 
go up a steady incline, until an elevation of nearly 500 
feet above sea level is reached. 

There are few if any industries at Versailles. Most 
of the people live off the tourists, and the stock in 
trade of the city is its record, its palace 1,400 feet long, 
its Trianons and a few other public resorts making 
the city interesting. 

Versailles has probably the finest fountains in the 
world ; the park consisting of hundreds of acres in the 
center of which is located a vast fountain, adorned 
with the most expensive ornaments that money would 
purchase. All about the miniature lake there are 
bronze effigies, colossal statues, curving jets of spark- 
ling water, grass carpeted avenues, and little silvan 
lakes upon which are sailing miniature ships. The 
playing of the fountains cost for each time from two 
to three thousand dollars and under electrical effects 
are fascinating. 

The three Louis and Napoleon Bonaparte are 

146 



BEAUTIFUL VERSAILLES 147 

credited with the gorgeous beauty, magnificence and 
extravagance at Versailles. It is said that these four 
men expended in that little city 200,000,000 of dol- 
lars; this included the cost of the public thoroughfare 
leading to Paris. It was this prodigal use of the peo- 
ple's money that worked insurrection and revolution. 

The creating of its marvelous parks at enormous 
cost was at a time when bread was scarce and poor 
people were suffering. Louis XIV kept 36,000 men 
employed on a tract of land sixty miles in circumfer- 
ence for a long period. The palace which is today in 
a good state of preservation is one of the products of 
their labor. It contains museums of art, the rarest 
paintings and sculpture in all France; it is the store- 
house for the choicest of the world's gifts. It has 
wonderful tapestries and decorations lavished on its 
hundreds and hundreds of rooms. These rooms are 
finished with the rarest and most costly wood, carved 
in the most fantastic manner. It has mosaics in such 
quantities that to the sight seer they cease to be in- 
teresting. Some of the rooms are immense, fifty by 
one hundred and fifty feet, with histories saturated 
with the blood of nobles and kings. 

Versailles was long the seat of government and 
the headquarters of things sensational. It is now the 
capital of Department of Seine Et Oise. It has long 
been the residence of the French court, and the career 
of Napoleon was closely identified with it. Ap- 
proaching the front of the palace our conductor point- 
ed out the balcony in the second story where the ill- 
fated Marie Antoinette stood on the night of October 
5th, 1789, having been previously awakened from 



148 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

sleep by the howling of the Paris mob demanding 
bread or blood. We were told that her husband 
Louis XVI was too terrified to protect either her or 
himself, that they were captured, dragged away to 
Paris, tortured for a time and finally guillotined. All 
Versailles abounds in portraits and paintings of the 
beautiful Marie Antoinette, who paid the penalty of 
being the wife of a weak, cowardly craven, without 
character or regard for his subjects. 

In one of the rooms of the palace William of Prus- 
sia was crowned as emperor after the victory of Alsace 
Lorraine in 1871, and to the great humiliation of the 
French people William continued to occupy this room 
and the palace for six months. The walls of its long- 
est and most extensive hall are adorned with immense 
paintings of all the battles in which Napoleon Bona- 
parte was engaged. It is in these paintings and in 
this room that Frenchmen seem to reach the highest 
plane of enjoyment. 

Of course no tourist could in a single day do even 
partial justice to 150 galleries of paintings and sculp- 
ture, really needing a whole year for study and thor- 
ough digestion. 

We strolled also through the Grand Trianon and 
the Petit Trianon, monuments of folly, lavish and ex- 
cessive waste of money. These buildings are but one 
story, perhaps twenty feet to the ceiling; there is a 
multitude of rooms filled with souvenirs of Napoleon 
I, of Josephine his wife, and three dead kings, with as 
many queens. There were rooms for every use con- 
ceivable and they were furnished in the most expen- 
sive manner. The furniture being suited to the de- 
mands of one to two hundreds years ago. 



BEAUTIFUL VERSAILLES 149 

The use of gold in decorations was as common 
then as the use of brass is now. Perhaps the place 
attracting the most attention was the bedroom, where 
several kings and queens had slept in succession. 
The bed created of the most costly and elegant 
materials, a sumptous affair, has long been without an 
occupant. We were told that Queen Victoria, when 
visiting Versailles a few years since, refused to sleep 
in this bed when she learned that Josephine, the 
divorced wife of Napoleon, was the last one to occupy 
it. In an immense dining room was located the table 
at which the lascivious Louis XIV and his mistress 
Madame Maintenon, and after them Louis XV and 
Pompadour, his concubine, sat at their meals. Napo- 
leon spent an average of about two weeks in each year 
in the midst of these gorgeous and luxurious sur- 
roundings. Near at hand are stables filled with car- 
riages decorated with gold and used by former kings 
and queens of France only on state occasions, that is, 
when an imperial head was to be crowned or a royal 
infant christened. These carriages were curious in 
their construction, one of them weighing eight tons 
and costing $48,000 was drawn by eight white horses ; 
their fine workmanship is going to decay, their former 
golden luster has been modified by the dusts of one to 
two centuries; and then there were curious sleighs 
with bodies shaped like wild animals. 

There were statues of favorite horses, life-size, 
harnesses and saddles decked with gold and silver. 

But the darkest spot in Versailles was the soldiers' 
barracks and prison, but a step from the palace. Here 
were confined, at one time in the early seventies, 
15,000 Frenchmen, who belonged to the Commune, 



150 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

men whose hands were red with the blood of their 
countrymen. Our conductor related to us the story 
of their surrender to the federalists, of their loyalty 
to the Commune, of the offer made to them by the 
government to allow them to go free, by taking an 
oath of allegiance to the government, of their refusal, 
and the sentence of the entire number to be shot. 
Detailing the hideousness of the killing of 15,000 men 
he said : "They were brought out into this open space 
fifty at a time, were shot to death, their bodies taken 
away, another fifty were brought out; this perform- 
ance, he said, lasted for five weeks or until the last one 
was killed. Oh ! the bloodiest picture in the book of 
time." 

Although the French revolution occurred more 
than a century ago, there are many traces around 
Paris and Versailles of the "Reign of Terror" which 
existed. A study of the causes which led to that hor- 
rible climax should be deeply impressed upon the 
minds of all rulers and political leaders. It was the 
outgrowth and culmination of misgovernment, of dis- 
regard of the rights of the majority, usurption of 
power, waste and extravagance of the people's money, 
placing the burdens of taxation upon the helpless 
and those least able to bear the burdens, and allowing 
the capitalists to go nearly or quite Scot-free. These 
evils and outrages ended in exasperation and desper- 
ation ; when the flame once broke forth there was no 
stopping it until it had run its course. 

The story of Josephine is full of sadness. She, 
whose undying devotion had never failed the great 
Napoleon and under whose guidance he had learned 



BEAUTIFUL VERSAILLES 151 

to believe in a lucky star, a star not overhead but by 
his side. This woman who had shared in his brilliant 
achievements was doomed to be cast off and the cruel 
hand which forced that decree of divorce knew but 
little of success or fortune afterward. Defeat and 
ruin stamped the career of Napoleon after that fateful 
edict. 

In bidding France adieu I leave many things un- 
said which would give the reader a more intelligent 
insight of the checkered lives of the Parisians. Of 
their pride in their city, of their enterprise in beauti- 
fying it, of their 52,000 acres of parks, the real lungs 
of Paris, too much in praise cannot be said. Of the 
glimpses of their botanical gardens, of their thousands 
of trees, fantastically shaped by their skillful pruning 
knives, of the broad boulevards taking the place of 
narrow streets and alleys. Credit and admiration is due 
to a people imbued with such enterprise, good taste, 
pluck and perseverence, but to the wicked and vicious 
propensities of the lower classes, to the sights and the 
scenes along the lanes and dark alleys, where poverty 
and crime join hands, where a human life is not worth 
a picayune, and where the atmosphere is dense with 
violence, there is an ever present suggestion of perdi- 
tion. The pages of this volume should not and 
must not be the medium of detailing the immorali- 
ties of Paris, which stalk abroad and strut in broad 
daylight, in the presence of decency and morality, 
without shame, hindrance or apology. Paris is a 
city of theaters, suited to the wants of all grades 
of society from the highest to the lowest. From the 
elite, which gather by thousands in its opera house 



152 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

costing $5,500,000, besides the ground, to the resort 
pandering to the lowest instincts of humanity, the 
place which Saxe fittingly portrayed in "Le Jardin 
Mabile" in the following lines : 

"But see ! where the people are closing about, 
Two brazen-browed women — and hark to the shout, 
La Can-can ! they're at it, no wonder you stare. 
One foot on the pavement — now two in the air ! 
A Cockney, intent on this rarest of shows, 
Retreats from the shoe that is grazing his nose. 
Good lack ! till he dies, he'll remember the heel 
That spoiled his new hat in the Jardin Mabile. 

" 'A pity !' you sigh — and a pity it is 

Such revels should shame such a garden as this; 

Where all that is charming in nature and art 

Serves only to sully and harden the heart. 

The Devil's own hot-house !' you musingly say, 

While turning in sadness and sorrow away, 

Reflecting that sin — as you potently feel 

Is the thriftiest plant in the Jardin Mabile." 



FAREWELL TO PARIS 



ALONG THE WAY TO THE GREAT METROPOLIS— LONDON, THE 
MODERN BABYLON— ITS ECCENTRIC CHARACTERS— CON- 
SERVATISM OF ENGLISH PEOPLE. 



A round of sight seeing in the French metropolis, 
lasting twelve days, ended, and with it the treat to 
which full justice could not be done in twelve months. 
The exposition will be remembered for a few 
things at least. Its diamond found in the Transvaal 
just previous! to the breaking out of the African war 
weighing 239 carats and insured for $2,000,000, was 
perhaps the most conspicuous item in the exhibition. 
Enclosed in a large glass case and mounted on a pivot 
its many sides were steadily exhibited to the swarms 
of people who will never see its like again ; and then 
there were the rooms and rooms by scores, finished 
and furnished with exquisite taste and great variety 
by enterprising house builders and house furnishers, 
making it easy for people having the price to select a 
home and to furnish every room in the house. The 
dressmakers and milliners of Paris furnished the feasts 
for the eyes of the ladies by mounting the latest fash- 
ions upon wax figures true to life. There were hun- 
dreds of these exhibits representing hundreds of thou- 
sands of dollars. Some of these queens of fashion 
were adorned with dresses costing up into the thou- 
sands, having trains three to four yards in length. 

The show of dry goods, both foreign and domes- 
tic, was never equalled. The circular elevated railway, 

153 



154 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

the circular moveable sidewalks making both fast 
and slow time, serving as a relief to the tired pilgrims, 
were some of the pleasant features to be remembered. 
And then the home of Count de Castellane, the 
spend-thrift, who won the heart and hand of pretty 
Anna Gould. This home, or so-called palace, is loca- 
ted not far from the exposition grounds, is an unat- 
tractive pile of marble without comeliness. Its high 
raised battlements intended for protection of the bel- 
ligerent count against his numerous enemies, or 
against possible Paris mobs, is a prominent feature of 
the $100,000 residence which might easily be mis- 
taken for a prison. According to the Paris reporters 
poor Anna has shed many hot tears, and suffered 
much humiliation on account of the squandering of 
her fortune and the disgraceful conduct of her hus- 
band. Her experience will not, however, prove an 
object lesson to other pretty American heiresses who 
will in the future be won by long hair and a foreign 
title. 

Four hours to Calais, through a country more or 
less broken, brought us back to the English channel ; 
along the route we saw large quantities of wheat rot- 
ting in the shocks, the effects of the recent rains. 
There were Percheron horses in great numbers of all 
ages, and white French cattle, which, barring their 
large horns, were not unlike the short-horns of Amer- 
ica. This was a stretch of country where farmers were 
apparently attending strictly to business and the well 
kept fields and farm buildings indicated prosperity. 

We found the English channel on its good behav- 
ior and during our ride of twenty-one miles across to 



FAREWELL TO PARIS. 155 

Dover the channel conducted herself with the utmost 
propriety. The career of this body of water is a 
checkered one. To illustrate, a portion of our party 
crossing two days later encountered one of the worst 
storms in the history of the channel. Every passenger 
was sick unto death and unable to help their friends 
or themselves. Landing at Dover our contest of 
thirty-six days with strange tongues and incompre- 
hensible dialects ended. The king's English, al- 
though frequently murdered, was never better appre- 
ciated ; such a sudden transition from a babel of voices 
to the American tourist is a delight and a comfort 
difficult to describe. 

Dover, rock-bound with its chalk hills for a back- 
ing, has a substantial look, suggestive of a great fort. 
The city is neither large nor important except as the 
seaport leading to the continent; the reader may re- 
member that it was at Dover we embarked for Ostend, 
Belgium, a distance of seventy miles. Passengers who 
pass through Dover to the continent are every year 
numbered by millions. A quick ride of seventy miles 
from Dover brought us to London, where a gentle- 
manly officer made a hurried examination of our bag- 
gage and we were whirled away to the Great Central, 
a first-class hostelry of extensive proportions, located 
in a part of the city far distant from the hotel of our 
first visit. 

Three days at the Great Central furnished an in- 
sight of the high life of the metropolis. The Great 
Central was built by a syndicate, is one of seven of 
similar proportions, erected without much regard to 
cost, the aim evidently being to make them attractive 



156 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

to the elite, the people to whom money is no object. 
The wealth, the fashion and the extravagance cen- 
tered at the Great Central was not in harmony with 
the scenes of poverty and destitution two or three 
blocks away. Almost in sight of this monument of 
elegance and this home of gayety there were huts 
where squalor and depravity are never relieved and 
where a ray of sunshine or hope never enters. 

But a stone's throw from the home of the rounded, 
beef-fed magnates to an allegory of starvation. 

The barmaids at the Great Central/ chosen for 
their fine forms and faces and not lacking in fashion- 
able attire, showed by their smiles that they are never 
impressed with the thought that their calling is not 
one of respectability. The custom of London, and in 
fact of England, raises no objection to the fact that 
girls belonging to good families occupy these posi- 
tions, nor that the wide-open saloon doors admit men, 
women and children of all classes who are waited upon 
by these barmaids. To see women reeling along the 
walks of London, often with babes in their arms, ex- 
cites little or no remark. 

While the cities of America are sadly in need of 
reform along these lines they are not for a moment to 
be compared with London, Glasgow and Dublin. 

If I were to invade the precincts of John street, 
White Chapel or Drury Lane and attempt to detail 
or describe the demoralization, hideousness and utter 
abandonment of the residents of those dens of crime, 
my fear is that the picture would be set down as an 
exaggeration of facts. 

London is by far the greatest of all commercial 
centers and the Babylon of the present day. It was 



FAREWELL TO PARIS. 157 

once the capital of an ancient British tribe, and when 
ruled by the Romans in the early centuries was one 
of the chief stations of Britain. The Romans encir- 
cled what is now but a small portion of the city with 
a wall about two miles in extent. London was plun- 
dered and burned by the Danes in the ninth century, 
since which it has passed through many a crisis but 
has managed to maintain its prestige as the metropo- 
lis of the nation. 

Stricken with the plague in 1665 its population 
was diminished by hundreds of thousands, the people 
dying at the rate of 6,000 a day. All business was 
suspended except burying the dead and grass grew 
in the middle of the business streets, even in front of 
the royal exchange, then and now the center of popu- 
lation. The plague was followed in 1666 by the great 
fire which devastated a large portion of the city and 
which was afterward construed as fortunate on 
account of the destruction of the germs of the plague, 
which have never appeared since. The people ren- 
dered homeless by the fire fled to the country, built a 
temporary city, which answered their purpose until 
the burned district was rebuilt on a more substantial 
basis. Probably no city in the universe has ever 
digressed so little from a marked individuality as the 
city of London. England has characteristics all her 
own, and these traits are intensified in its metropolis. 

To study the faces of the multitude as they swarm 
through the leading thoroughfares is a rare feast and 
an amusement. The versatile Dickens without this 
opportunity could never have charmed the millions to 
the extent that he did with his tales of fiction. The 



158 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

Peggotys, the Trotwoods, the Traddles, the Sam Wel- 
lers, the Micawbers, the Bill Sykes's, the Barkis's, the 
Pickwicks and the Uriah Heeps are all there, readily 
identified by the clever and close observer. There are 
thousands and thousands of Londoners, who have 
never been out of sight of their great city, who have 
bloomed and faded within the sphere of St. Paul's or 
within hearing of its chimes. 

That London should be a Sahara for things sin- 
gular is not surprising; that dense ignorance and 
social depravity should obtain a firm foothold is not 
odd; that the presence of royalty should stimulate a 
class of sycophants who attempt to simulate or ape 
the forms and customs of their superiors, and to coun- 
terfeit distinguished airs, is less strange. A stroll 
through the parks reveals the social remnants of dilap- 
idated humanity by hundreds, who are so thoroughly 
wedded to London and its ever changing panorama, 
that to be removed to the country or to any other 
locality would be a punishment hard to endure. 

Never having breathed the free air of heaven nor 
enjoyed a full day of unbroken sunlight, these desolate 
patriarchs have no conception of what they have lost. 
They have become the willing victims of unfortunate 
environments. 

It costs London immensely to punish her crimi- 
nals and to keep her degenerate elements within 
proper limits. Arrests for crime number more than 
100,000 a year, and nearly or quite 50 per cent of 
those charged are punished. 

London is much better governed than New York. 
Criminals have more to fear, as violations of the law 



FAREWELL TO PARIS. 159 

always mean something, and there is much less sickly- 
sentimentality floating around than in the cities of 
America. 

The conservatism of the English in some respects 
is very annoying to American tourists. If their cur- 
rency was less cumbrous and more readily compre- 
hended it would be much better for all concerned. To 
comprehend the pounds, shillings, pence and farthings 
takes but a short while, but those superfluities, the 
crown and the half crown, to the stranger, and their 
similarity to silver having a different value makes con- 
fusion which should be obviated. 

The crown having a value of about $1.20, or five 
shillings of English money, to a stranger is likely to be 
mistaken for four shillings or a value corresponding 
with our silver dollar, and the half crown is similar in 
size to an English two-shilling piece or an American 
half dollar, and then there is the English three-pence 
too small for a pocket piece and the English penny 
huge and unsightly; all their currency, except the 
crown and half crown, reminding an American of our 
currency previous to the civil war. If there is any one 
thing more than all others in this country that war- 
rants a pardonable pride, it is our system of currency, 
its simplicity and adaptation to the wants and neces- 
sities of every class, its soundness and convenience, 
places our gold, silver, paper and nickels above criti- 
cism, and without a rival in the universe. 

There is less wild speculation in London than in 
New York, values of stocks and bonds offered for 
investments are more definite and certain and as a rule 
fluctuate less in England than in this country. A 



160 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

Liverpool capitalist largely interested in railroads 
informed me that there were few watered railroad 
stocks in Britain — in an American sense. He said, 
"when it is decided to build a railroad a close estimate 
is made by the company of the cost of everything 
entering into its construction and equipment, includ- 
ing the cost of all its depots, and the stock therefor is 
issued and sold at par. Twenty years later, perhaps, 
when it becomes necessary to demolish the depot 
costing 200 pounds and replace it with one costing 
500 pounds, additional stock for 500 pounds is issued, 
and that is the limit to the watering of railway stocks 
in Britain." 

In England, he remarked, "our aim is to make our 
investments in railroads dividend paying, but not 
speculative. To carry passengers and freight as 
cheaply as we can afford, and to give the best service 
possible." In the matter of road-beds and depots they 
are far in the lead of America, but in equipment, so 
far as all rolling stock and strictly first-class train 
service is concerned, Britain from an American stand- 
point can hardly be considered as in the game. 



WINDSOR AND ITS CASTLE 



THE QUEEN'S FARM— QUAINT OLD OXFORD AND ITS UNIVERSITY 
—WARWICK AND ITS ANTIQUITIES. 



Bidding adieu to London a ride of twenty-one 
miles on the Great Western railway brought us to the 
antiquated old city of Windsor, noted chiefly for its 
castle. It is here that Queen Victoria each year for 
a long period spent from six weeks to six months, it 
being her leading summer residence. 

Two miles from Windsor is located the large farm, 
where Prince Albert in the later years of his life spent 
his time in the management of the hundreds of acres 
devoted to agriculture and the rearing of live stock, 
rivaling the best produced in the world. For a person 
having a taste for agricultural pursuits, this farm is a 
charming spot. The meat, including the poultry, 
flour, the vegetables, milk, (and feed for an average 
of fifty carriage horses kept at Windsor, needed for 
use in the royal family) all come from this farm, and 
if the queen with her family was not at Windsor these 
necessaries of life were forwarded to her, wherever she 
might be. In an opposite direction from Windsor 
and not far away, is the royal forest, once containing 
about sixty thousand acres. And there is Windsor 
park containing oaks made famous by the attachment 
of Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare; and then there 
is Queen Anne's row of elms three miles long, once 
the pride of Windsor. 

The city proper has about 15,000 inhabitants, 

161 



162 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

which is probably much less than the population 300 
years ago, as at that time the town was celebrated 
for the number of its inns, there being seventy places 
which were dignified by such euphonious names as 
the Garter, the White Hart, the Black Bull, the Red 
Horse, the White Cow, etc., etc. The Garter was the 
favorite inn of Shakespeare's Falstaff, and in "The 
Merry Wives of Windsor" is often mentioned. 

Windsor castle has a commanding position. It 
has a stately group of ancient buildings with historical 
connections and perhaps the most magnificent of all 
royal palaces. There are no signs of neglect or decay 
to be seen but evidences of large expenditures in 
recent years for additional buildings, including a large 
round tower, the whole structure resting upon a 
mound of chalk and containing seventeen acres. The 
Thames is crossed here by a bridge resting on three 
granite piers, and a fine view of the great river and 
the fertile country in all directions can be had from 
the top of the tower. 

Down the main thoroughfare, but a short distance 
from Windsor, rests Queen Victoria's remains beside 
the dust of Prince Albert. Fortunes have been spent 
in preparation for the royal dead at this burial place, 
known as Frogmore. 

It required a whole bolt of red tape to get through 
the castle, first it was necessary to fill certain benches 
in the ante-room to complete the number necessary 
to secure admittance, and when inside the lines, and 
in charge of a guide, whose long service had seemed 
to endow him with an acute sanctity, we were conduc- 
ted from room to room with all the solemnity and pre- 



WINDSOR AND ITS CASTLE. 163 

cision needed for a royal obsequies. The rooms in 
the castle are numerous, too numerous to enumerate. 
Some of them are lined with polished marble, with 
Gothic windows and richly stained glass. There 
were portraits of sovereigns, of kings and queens, 
panels of mosaics representing Biblical scenes, and 
floral designs that were beautiful. Hurried explana- 
tions made by our guide as we passed from room to 
room amounted to a sort of tweedle-dum and twee- 
dle-dee. His accounts of the valuables consisting of 
paintings, statuary, vases, fire-arms, and a thousand 
and one presents to the queen from nearly all the 
nations of the earth, were confusing and failed to 
properly impress the sight-seers. Windsor castle is 
but one of the several store-houses where this class of 
goods are preserved for the royal family and its suc- 
cessors. 

Proceeding a few miles further brought us to the 
old college town of Oxford. It was there that per- 
haps a majority of the leading statesmen, poets and 
men of letters, which during the past eight hundred 
years have in Great Britain received their education 
or equipment for the battle of life. 

If there was anything pleasing or calculated to in- 
spire students of the university with a college attach- 
ment, we failed to find it. The black and grim old 
buildings covering many acres, were sandwiched in 
between structures of great variety, showing the in- 
roads of time. Its ancient walls are beginning to 
crumble, and there was a spooky appearance and an 
air of desolation in its multitude of halls. There was 
no college campus in sight, and the narrow streets and 



164 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

narrow alleys gave a wierd and dismal appearance to 
the famous university. 

The popularity of the university several centuries 
ago was so great that to obtain a scholarship, or to 
get into the college, application must be made by the 
student years in advance, and the tuition was three to 
five times as great as the tuition charged in American 
colleges of the first class. 

Oxford is a city of about 50,000 inhabitants with 
little to recommend it as being of a progressive kind. 
The fat, lame, old horse which pulled our car up the 
long road from the depot to the university, would, in 
Paris, have been a quick candidate for a horse-beef 
stall. 

Between these cities of moderate size, rural Eng- 
land presents a fine appearance. These last days of 
August finds the farmers up to their elbows in their 
harvest. The great crop of wheat is now going into 
stacks and the contrast between the methods em- 
ployed in England and America to secure the grain 
is amusing to the tourist. The grain is drawn with 
clumsy, one-horse carts, the loads are small and four 
men are employed usually to do two men's work in 
this country, and as before stated everything in the 
line of grain, for want of barns, goes into stacks that 
are skillfully thatched. Harvest weather is usually 
precarious in England, as rain often makes a destruc- 
tive interference. An American wonders how it is 
possible to secure their wheat, when rain is falling 
nearly every day in the month, but the occasional day 
with bright sunshine is made the most of by working 
far into the night. We saw the gleaners, consisting 



WINDSOR AND ITS OASTLE. 165 

of whole families, making a clean sweep of the stubble- 
fields for a last head of grain, and their harvest was 
a surprise to us. Haying is well under way, but the 
thick old meadows with their heavy fleeces of grass 
are about as green as ever, while the second crop of 
clover is ready for the machine. If days' works are 
desirable the harvest hands of Britain have little to 
complain of. The system observed by the managers 
of large farms and the lessees of English estates in the 
employment of farm labor differs widely from our 
American customs. In Britain it is not uncommon 
for families to find employment continuously on the 
same farm for generations. The head of the family 
retired by the weight of years is succeeded by a son 
who becomes the cart-man, the ploughman, or the 
keeper of the live stock, as the case may be. Trained 
in his calling from childhood he is expert in the duties 
he is called upon to perform. He has learned from his 
father the importance of being reliable and faithful 
and he can be depended upon by his employer, whose 
interests are not neglected. The proprietor furnishes 
this class of tenants a house and in addition to the 
yearly wages adds to the compensation by gifts or 
presents, which have the effect of cementing or mak- 
ing close the relations between the employer and em- 
ployed. My information is, that the time serving, 
indifferent farm hand in England, is a rare exception, 
although his compensation is less than the amounts 
paid by American farmers. The root crops of Eng- 
land are a large item in their farming operati6ns, 
carrots, beets, and turnips entering into their stock 
growing. The flocks of black-faced, well-rounded, 



166 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

heavy muttons in hurdles on the turnip fields was a 
feature of mutton producing not familiar to Ameri- 
cans. The mutton produced by these turnips is of a 
quality which our sheep feeders would do well to con- 
sider. While English farming proceeds by slow and 
conservative processes there are lessons and lessons 
offered which could be studied with propriety by 
American farmers. 

A further ride of a few miles from Oxford brought 
us to the quaint old town of Warwick, which, to be in 
harmony with our surroundings, should be pro- 
nounced "Warrick." This typical old city has about 
12,000 inhabitants, is not growing and is apparently 
non-progressive. 

It has historical reminiscences, reaching back 
many centuries, which are interesting. The original 
plat of the city, which seems never to have been 
amended, is a curiosity. 

We stayed over night at the "Woolpack" hotel, 
centrally located, owned and kept by a sister of W. P. 
Knapp, of Elyria. The house was not only in the 
center of the town, but out from the little paved park 
from in front of the house narrow streets led in all 
directions. The plan of the engineer didn't contem- 
plate squares, right angles, nor uniformity in the size 
of his blocks ; some of the buildings fronting this little 
square were scarcely ten feet in front, widening as they 
extended back. The business places were of an 
ancient type, low ceilings, and styles of architecture 
long since out of date. 

In the suburbs of the city, or away from the center, 
there were many beautiful sights and desirable homes. 



WINDSOR AND ITS CASTLE. 167 

Nature was a liberal contributor in making Warwick 
one of the most desirable spots in England. 

There are many ancient land marks in the old city, 
the leading one being Warwick castle, nearly, or quite 
one thousand years old. About one-half the old 
structure is in ruins, the other half is habitable. It 
was destroyed by the wars of Henry some years after 
its construction and was but partially built up. The 
original tower still stands. There are a great number 
of rooms in the habitable portion which are filled with 
curios, pictures, busts, marbles, cabinets, vases, 
curiously inlaid, antiques and wonders of art. 

The famous Warwick vase which fifty years since 
was found during a drouth at the bottom of a lake 
near Adrians' villa, by Sir William Hamilton, is loca- 
ted at the castle. It was excavated and moved here 
where it is exhibited as one of the leading relics of 
ancient days. The vase is without doubt 2,000 years 
old and a perfect specimen of Greek art. It is twelve 
feet in diameter at the top and is about ten feet high. 

Warwick has some tall cedars of Lebanon in its 
spacious garden. These trees, which were used in 
the construction of Solomon's temple, are famed 
throughout the world. The trees at Warwick were 
brought from Palestine many years ago. It is said 
that these trees are found nowhere else in the world 
except in California. The tall trees of the Yosemite 
are claimed to be the descendants of the cedars of 
Lebanon, but how they got there neither history nor 
tradition attempt to explain. 



FROM WARWICK TO STRATFORD 



THE BIRTHPLACE AND RESTING PLACE OP WILLIAM SHAKES- 
PEARE—THE COTTAGE OF ANN HATHAWAY. 



A ride by rail, lasting something more than an 
hour, transferred our little party from Warwick to 
Stratford, the birth place and resting place of the 
greatest of all dramatic writers, William Shakespeare. 
Readers and admirers of Shakespeare approach 
Stratford, not with morbid curiosity, but with an 
ecstatic contemplation and enthusiasm, and a feeling 
of awe and reverence. 

The little city of 8,000 inhabitants has a world- 
wide notoriety due to its being the home of the great 
poet. 

Everything in Stratford is Shakesperian. Arriv- 
ing at the Stratford depot our party refused the impor- 
tunities of the persistent hackmen, and we strolled up 
the long street to the center of the little city, passing 
on the way little, low, thatched, steep-roofed cottages 
of original types and ancient brands. Some of them 
were lighted by window panes, six inches square; 
their huge chimneys, out of harmony with their size, 
made an odd and unique appearance. We passed also 
the Shakespeare monument, erected in the middle of 
the main street at an important crossing by the late 
George W. Childs, the Philadelphia philanthropist, at 
a cost of $25,000. The monument is a beautiful tri- 

168 



FROM WARWICK TO STRATFORD. 169 

bute to the memory of one for whom this man had the 
greatest admiration. 

Engaging a carriage later for a round of sight- 
seeing, we were first driven to the home and birth- 
place of the Bard of Avon. There was nothing strik- 
ing in this house of sixteen rooms as it differed but 
little from the other cottages in the same row — which 
were built on the line of the street. These cottages 
were old-fashioned in architecture long since obsolete. 
Their antiquated appearances, especially this one, is 
largely due to its great age, having been built in the 
fifteenth century and more than 350 years ago. 

John, the father of William Shakespeare, came to 
Stratford from a near-by town about 1550. He was 
a young man of much promise and in a short time 
took a high position in the municipal affairs of the 
village. During the first five years of his Stratford 
life he held the dignified positions of leet-juror, ale- 
taster, constable, affeeror, burgess, chamberlain and 
alderman ; later he became chief bailiff, and mayor of 
the town, and was further honored by the titles of 
gentleman, master and esquire. John Shakespeare 
prospered and at the end of five years when his accu- 
mulations reached the munificent sum of five hundred 
pounds he married Mary Arden, from the country 
near-by. Little is known of Mary except that she 
was an heiress, "a gentlewoman of good appearance 
and good repute." 

This sixteen-room house was purchased, where 
eight children were born to John and Mary, four boys 
and four girls. The two oldest were girls and died 



170 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

in infancy. The third was a boy and was named 
William. 

Whether the honors and emoluments of office 
combined with marrying an "heiress" proved too 
great a strain upon the poise of John is not stated, or 
whether, due to bad luck or bad management, that he 
lost the most of his property is a mooted question, but 
reverse after reverse brought John and his family to 
low estate. They parted with the lands that Mary 
had inherited, in fact everything went except the 
home, including the titles and the standing of the once 
proud and imperious John Shakespeare. His occupa- 
tion had been dealer in grain, cattle, lumber, etc., but 
with reduced capital he settled down to the business 
of glover ; making gloves and leggins for the farmers 
round about. This business was carried on in one of 
the back rooms of the cottage and for many years 
seems to have been a strife against fate and a struggle 
for a livelihood. John was often humiliated by being 
sued for debt but managed to keep out of prison. 
From necessity the doctor and I ducked our heads 
when we entered the cottage. 

After paying the customary shilling our suave and 
courteous guide conducted us through the establish- 
ment, detailing the uses made of the different rooms 
by the Shakespeares. In the main living room on the 
first floor was a huge old-fashioned fire place rein- 
forced by an immense brick oven, the two covering 
more than one-half of one side of the room. In front 
of the fire place were some huge flat stones, which con- 
stituted the hearth. Imagine the mother cooking over 
the fireplace, baking bread in the oven and availing 



FROM WARWICK TO STRATFORD. 171 

herself of such primitive conditions in the care and 
support of her family and you picture the lives of 
thousands of American women of the eighteenth and 
nineteenth centuries. From this room, up a rickety 
dilapidated pair of winding stairs, we were shown into 
the place where William Shakespeare first saw the 
light. This room was perhaps sixteen feet square, 
very low between joints, with two little windows in 
front, filled with old-fashioned glass of small propor- 
tions. The plaster on the walls consisting of one 
dark coat and covering the spaces between the huge 
timbers added to the gloom and darkness of the sur- 
roundings ; the wood-work here was of the very plain- 
est and all ornamentation was over-looked. The 
floor of wide boards which have managed to survive 
this great lapse of time were creaky and shaky ; on the 
walls and on the window panes were the evidences of 
the multitudes of visitors from all parts of the globe, 
who have found their way to this dingy and decaying 
inclosure. 

Thousands and thousands of names cut in the 
timbers, written on the walls and scratched with dia- 
monds upon the window panes, tell the tales of their 
presence. They rank from the highest to the lowest. 
I recall the names of Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Car- 
lyle, T. B. Macauley, Chas. Dickens, and Lord Byron, 
each evidently the possesor of a diamond. 

Returning to the first floor we were shown into the 
library. Here was an immense quantity of the origi- 
nal manuscript of Shakespeare's writings. An exam- 
nation showed that the English and diction used in 
the fifteenth century had improved but very little 



172 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

upon the original. Here also was the library left by 
John Shakespeare and the early accumulations of his 
son. There were guns, pipes, snuff boxes and other 
property of the poet, there was also the desk occupied 
by Shakespeare at the grammar school near-by, where 
he obtained all the technical education he ever had. 
This desk, made of rough boards, was as rude and un- 
sightly in its construction as can be imagined. The 
seat was too high for the boy's feet to obtain even a 
speaking acquaintance with the floor. A ten year 
old boy with some rough boards, a hammer and a 
few nails, would now be expected to produce a much 
better outfit. 

Outside of the house and mainly in the back yard 
was a well kept flower garden and a few old trees, 
which, if favored with voices, might be interesting. 
This property after the death of William got into the 
hands of a shrewd, far-sighted butcher, who without 
any poetry in his nature sold sheeps' heads and pigs' 
livers in the front room. 

Something more than a half a century ago, the 
English government, for a large sum, said to be three 
thousand pounds, purchased this property and with 
the revenues received from it is doing its best to pre- 
serve it in its original type and naturalness. 

In the temperament of the poet there seems to 
have been a happy blending of the qualities pos- 
sessed by the father and mother. John is said to have 
been passionate, arrogant, and impulsive, while Mary 
was the exact opposite — calm, considerate and love- 
able. William possessed the emotional, fiery, ambi- 
tious traits of his father and the generous, noble and 



FROM WARWICK TO STRATFORD. 173 

magnanimous qualities of his mother. He is de- 
scribed as being a Chesterfield in his address, pos- 
sessed of rare magnetic qualities, and as a boy and a 
man always at ease and at home in every possible 
phase of society. He conversed as freely and as natur- 
ally with the hodman on his ladder and the ploughman 
in his furrow, as with kings, queens and princes, and 
he had the love and respect and admiration of all alike. 
In his childhood he is described as being a robust, 
hazel-eyed, curly-headed boy, who never missed an 
opportunity of being present at the sheep-washings 
and pig-killings at his grandfather's in the country. 
The shepherds and the farm hands in all the country 
round about were his companions. He was familiar 
with every hill and every shady nook in that undulat- 
ing country. 

Like Sir Walter Scott, he had a penchant for soli- 
tude. He sought the stillnes of the dense forests, he 
listened for hours to the babbling of the running 
brooks, and the songs of the warblers in their native 
groves. The exhilarating breath of the highlands in 
the distance added to the vitality of the rugged consti- 
tution. The wild flowers and sweet herbage that 
fringed the forests were all familiar to him, and in his 
wanderings among the trees he received an inspira- 
tion which later in life in his "As You Like It" found 
his well-known expression : "And this, our life, ex- 
empt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books 
in running brooks, sermons in stones and good in 
everything." This communion with the gentle whis- 
perings of nature was a valuable preparation for the 



174 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

life to follow, and mirror-like was reflected in his pro- 
ductions. 

The reverses and necessities of John Shakespeare 
took William from school at the age of fifteen, when 
he became a helper in the manufacture of gloves. I 
can imagine his keen disappointment in not being 
sent to Oxford instead. He had little taste for the 
work but the lesson taught during the four years 
which he remained at home was without doubt a valu- 
able one. Unlike his father, he proved a prudent, 
successful business man in every way and to the great 
gratification of his parents he applied some of the first 
money made from his writings to their use, relieving 
them of all distress and restoring his father's titles, 
making their last years happy by his contributions. 

At the age of nineteen William married Ann Hath- 
away, a girl that he had known from childhood, seven 
years his senior It was a happy union, three chil- 
dren were born to them, the last two being twins. 

From childhood Shakespeare had shown a taste 
for the drama, he visited all the theaters within 
reach, and before his marriage had written a few plays 
which were dramatized and demonstrated that the 
mind of the writer was both creative and receptive. 

Not being satisfied with Stratford he drifted away 
to London, took a subordinate position in a theater as 
an actor and during his twenty years stay in London 
won both fame and fortune. His last ten years were 
spent in Stratford, where his public spirit and benevo- 
lences endeared him to the hearts of the people. He 
had marked social qualities and was a royal enter- 
tainer. Born in 1564 he passed away in 1616, aged 



FROM WARWICK TO STRATFORD. 175 

fifty-two years. A sickness lasting but three days (a 
malignant fever) following an entertainment of Ben 
Johnson and other celebrated characters. 

We saw the foundation of the house where he died. 
It was located near the church, where his remains 
were deposited. The house was burned many years 
ago. At the church in the crypt under the chancel 
and under a plain marble slab rests all that remains 
of the brilliant man, whose powers were an enigma 
and whose writings were a marvel and an amazement, 
that stand today without a rival. 

We were shown through the large memorial hall, 
erected to his memory. It is filled with paintings, 
books, statuary and souvenirs of great variety and 
value. From the top of the hall in the tower the 
beautiful Avon may be traced in its various meander- 
ings through a delightful country, also the famous 
roads leading away to Birmingham and Northampton, 
the birthplace of our honored citizens, Richard Baker, 
Henry Eady, Mrs. Lantsbury and others. Also may 
be seen to the north of the city only a mile away 
among the elms, the spot where our late distinguished 
citizen, Hon. N. S. Towshend, was born and spent his 
early boyhood. 

Our last call was out on the winding road in the 
suburbs, at the cottage of Ann Hathaway. This cot- 
tage is low, long and wide, with a heavy, thatched roof 
resting upon it like a hood, reaching well down toward 
the earth. Government ownership is also reserving 
its originality. Our sixpence obtained admission and 
a seat on the rude bench in front of the broad fireplace, 
where we imagined the young lover sat with his bride 



176 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

in the early days of their housekeeping. Near at 
hand was the rude bed they occupied, which would 
hardly be accepted as a resting place by the poets of 
the present day. With a drink of cold water from the 
old well and some flowers picked in an adjacent 
garden, from the hand of the good-natured tenant, I 
left Stratford, making a note of this visit as one of the 
rarest treats enjoyed in Europe. 



BUSY BIRMINGHAM 



ITS STACKS AND SMOKE— OLD CHESTER, CITY OP THE ROMANS 
—PEOPLE NONPROGRESSIVE, HAPPY, CONTENT AND FOND OF 
THEIR ODDITIES. 



From Stratford back to Warwick and on to Ches- 
ter consumed but a few hours. 

We made a short stop at Birmingham, one of the 
leading cities of Britain, and one of the few greatest 
of all strictly manufacturing cities in the world. 
Birmingham has a population of about 500,000 inhab- 
itants. Its industries, or its reputation as a manufac- 
turing city reaches back several centuries. The city 
has about 9,000 houses occupied. These houses are 
mostly of brick, and such a sameness in architecture is 
rarely seen. 

The thing which impresses the stranger most at 
Birmingham is its chimney stacks and its smoke. 
The stacks are numbered by hundreds, scattered 
away as far as the eye can reach. The smoke issuing 
from these chimneys seemed to form into clouds and 
settle down on the city with a density equalling a Lon- 
don fog. 

Birmingham from away back has been the seat of 
metal manufacture ; ten thousand people find employ- 
ment in its brass shops. Jewelry, made of gold, silver 
and gilt, comes next. Small fire-arms, buttons, hooks 
and eyes, pins, etc., keep a multitude of operatives 
busy, and then there is table glass which finds a mar- 

177 



178 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

ket in all civilized countries, manufactured in aston- 
ishing quantities. The city has long had the prestige 
of being the headquarters for screws and nails, but 
the most remarkable of all the tales told of her indus- 
tries was the account of her output of steel pens. 
Fifteen tons of steel per week is rolled out into thin 
plates and manufactured into steel pens, one man has 
constantly employed sixty tons of steel in the various 
stages, and completes twenty million pens every six 
days; this fact gives a faint conception or criterion of 
the vastness of the population of the civilized world. 

A writer in speaking of the industries of Birming- 
ham says, "We cannot move without rinding traces of 
the great hive of metal makers, the veritable descend- 
ants of Tubal-cain." 

At home or abroad, sleeping or waking, walking 
or riding, in a carriage or upon a railway or steam- 
boat we cannot escape reminiscences of Birmingham. 
She haunts us from the cradle to the grave. She sup- 
plies us with the spoon that first brings our infant lips 
into acquaintance with pap and she provides the dis- 
mal furniture which is affixed to our coffins. In her 
turn Birmingham lays the whole world under contri- 
bution for her materials. For her smiths and metal- 
workers and jewelers, wherever nature has departed, 
stories of useful, or precious metals, or as hidden glit- 
tering gems, there industrious miners are busily dig- 
ging. Divers collect for her button makers millions 
of rare and costly shells. For her adventurous hunt- 
ers rifle the buffalo of his wide-spreading horns, and 
the elephant of his ivory tusks. There is scarcely a 
product of any country or any climate that she does 



BUSY BIRMINGHAM. 179 

not gladly receive and in return stamps with a richer 
value. 

The people of Birmingham are said to be pecu- 
liar in their strong individuality and their ardent love 
for and loyalty to their town. They are well supplied 
with public utilities, including a very large library. 
The city is well governed and unlike the iron workers 
of many other cities, are orderly and easily managed. 
Co-operation and profit-sharing has a foothold which 
almost entirely obviates strikes among the operatives. 

If they have trouble they manage to settle it by 
arbitration instead of giving out the edict "that this 
will be a fight to the finish." 

In the suburbs of the city I saw where hundreds of 
acres of valuable land had been buried under slag from 
the furnaces, from ten to forty feet deep. 

Wolverhampton, another manufacturing city 
along our railway, a few years ago, fifteen miles from 
Birmingham, is now a suburb, the two cities being 
connected by industries and their equipments. The 
producing and consuming power of their population 
is felt at many an American hearthstone. Although 
competitors with hundreds of American industries, 
the beef, the pork, the cheese, flour, etc., consumed, 
makes glad the American farmer. 

A few miles further on brought us to the quaint 
old city of Chester with 40,000 inhabitants. Chester 
is the oldest town in England, its origin dating from 
about the beginning of the Christian era. It is the 
county seat of West Cheshire, situated on the river 
Dee, twenty miles from the open sea, sixteen miles 



180 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

southeast of Liverpool and 179 miles northwest of 
London by rail. 

The city was founded by the Romans in the first 
century and was walled in in the year 61. The long 
period which has elapsed since the organization of this 
ancient city has witnessed many changes. In the 
early centuries it was the battle ground for the 
Britons, Saxons and Danes. It was taken, re-taken, 
and deserted by these different tribes. 

In the building of the city a style or plan was 
followed differing from all others in Britain, or in fact 
in the known world. It is divided into four principal 
blocks by the four principal streets; these four streets 
exhibit in what are called "the Rows" a characteris- 
tic feature which is a mystery. These rows exist on 
each side of the streets, throughout the greater part 
of their length and resemble continuous galleries 
open to the street, over and under which the houses 
lining these streets project, and which are formed, as 
it were, out of the front first floor of the houses, ap- 
proached by flights of steps from the roadway. The 
Rows are flagged or boarded under foot, and sealed 
above, thus forming a covered way in the same rela- 
tion to the shops, which are at their back, as the foot- 
pavement does in other towns. 

In these streets are examples of the old timbered 
houses of the seventeenth century, giving a foreign 
character to the town. Relics of ancient days are 
found in a stone grimed roof, a mortuary chapel, etc. 

The celebrated Grosvenor bridge, with a single 
span of stone 200 feet in length, the largest in the 
world save one, crosses the Dee on the southwest of 



BUSY BIRMINGHAM. 181 

the city. Caesar's tower, the remains of a castle in 
the upper ward, a fine old cathedral, Derby house 
bearing the date of 1591, Bishop Lloyd's house, God's 
Providence house and the Bear and Billet, owing to 
their odd architecture should not be missed by the 
tourist. 

The wall referred to around the city has been re- 
newed several times since first erected, but at one 
point there remains a portion of the original structure. 
I examined the brick and mortar, which at the expir- 
ation of nearly nineteen hundred years seemed in a 
perfect state of preservation. The present wall is 
eight feet thick and will average perhaps twelve feet 
high. Our guide informed me that the original 
structure was erected at the cost of a penny a day for 
the labor. This scrap of history may not be strictly 
correct. The wall is about two miles in circumfer- 
ence and the fine stone walk on the top, with the views 
from the most elevated portions, which are perhaps 
thirty feet high, made this trip around the city a pleas- 
ure. What is known as the water tower, built by the 
Romans in the first century, still stands just outside 
the wall, although bombarded by Cromwell and sur- 
rendered to him in the thirteenth century. 

From the top of the tower the hill where Crom- 
well's guns were located is in plain view, and a few 
miles beyond in the distance is Hawarden, for many 
years the residence of the renowned Gladstone and 
now a part of his great estate. 

Within the tower were many antique and amusing 
relics ; a bishop's chair four hundred years old, a bust 
of a sheep-thief with the mark of the rope around his 



182 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

neck and also the rope which choked the life out of 
him, the bust being made from a picture taken after 
his execution. 

Further on is the tower on the top of which King 
Charles stood and witnessed the defeat of his army, 
east of the city in 1645, Lord Byron being one of the 
king's commanders. 

Should a rivalry spring up in Britain between the 
unique old cities to see which could produce the most 
oddities, the largest number of ancient things comi- 
cal, and the most modern eccentricities, I have no 
doubt that the city of Chester would win the 
prize. There is an evident repugnance in the atmos- 
phere of Chester to everything modern or up-to-date, 
and yet there is an air of satisfaction in the faces of the 
people, which seems to have reference to their native 
town as well as themselves. 

The markets of Chester were well supplied with 
everything that heart could wish. The meat markets 
were models of cleanliness and the exhibition of their 
dainty dressed carcasses was a source of pride to the 
butchers. I counted fourteen varieties of fish hang- 
ing in a stall, just received from the ocean, which were 
temptingly fine and fresh. 

Leaving Chester not without a little feeling of 
envy for its comfortable, self-satisfied people, we pro- 
ceed to Hollyhead, eighty miles distant. 

This little city in Wales is located on St. George's 
channel or the Irish sea, at the far end of a narrow 
neck of land offering all sorts of interest and amuse- 
ment. 

We were hardly out of sight of either extensive 



BUSY BIRMINGHAM. 183 

fishing industries, operations of coal miners, great 
plants where thousands of iron and steel workers were 
employed or industries of less capacity. 

We passed through the notorious screw bridge 
which represents a wide departure in bridge-building. 
At Hollyhead we embarked for a four hours' ride to 
Dublin, and with gentle breezes and smooth seas we 
landed at the capital of Ireland. 



THE IRISH METROPOLIS AND HER 
LANDMARKS 



BIRTHPLACE AND RESTING PLACE OF MEN OP GENIUS AND 
WORLDWIDE NOTORIETY— PARNELL AND HIS FATAL ESCA- 
PADE. 



Dublin, the capital and metropolis of Ireland, is a 
city of more than 400,000 inhabitants. Its well-paved 
streets and substantial business blocks give the city 
an appearance of permanence, and thrift. There are, 
however, many sudden transitions from magnificence 
to meanness in the residence portions. On some of 
the leading streets may be found colossal old homes 
in the midst of luxurious surroundings, but within a 
stones-throw a contrast most displeasing. Dublin 
has many public edifices of large and stately propor- 
tions. The bank of Ireland, formerly the house of 
parliament, occupying five acres, is very imposing. 
Trinity college is a massive structure, well propor- 
tioned, and a source of pride to all Ireland. It con- 
tains a great library and portraits of many famous 
Irishmen, including Gratten, Yelverton, Lord Ross, 
Lord Killwarden and others. Dublin castle, as 
appearances go, has little to recommend it. Built 
principally of brick, it is dingy, dirty and bordering on 
dilapidation. It has a handsome tower and chapel 
and manages to occupy ten acres of ground. The 
custom house, the greatest ornament of the city, was 
erected in 1790 at a cost of $2,000,000. Its three 
granite fronts, rising to a height of 125 feet, give the 

184 



THE IRISH METROPOLIS. 185 

building a lofty and commanding appearance. And 
then there are the four courts, the city hall, and the 
postoffice, making up a creditable set of public edi- 
fices. St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ's church and a 
few other church edifices are models of beauty, but of 
the very large number of houses of worship within the 
city, a majority are lacking in size and fine finish. 
They are mostly old and in the poor localities. 

The Dublin museum, filled with a collection of 
Irish relics and curiosities, prehistoric and otherwise, 
should not be missed by the American tourist. What- 
ever your impressions of Ireland may be when you 
enter, you will leave with a feeling that the old king- 
dom has histories making it one of the most interest- 
ing spots on the globe. The collection of skeletons 
of reptiles, animals and birds is worth a trip to Ireland 
to see and study. Great lizards poking their bony 
noses fifteen to twenty feet into the air. Skeletons of 
Irish deer standing not less than eight feet high with 
antlers reaching more than eleven feet from tip to tip, 
and weighing not less than 1,400 pounds when alive, 
are numbered among the things prehistoric. 

Dublin is well supplied with parks and fountains. 
Her Phoenix park, seven miles in circumference, con- 
taining nearly 2,000 acres, partly within the city limits, 
is one of the finest in all Europe. Its beautiful land- 
scapes, its monuments and its profusion of flowers 
and ornamental shrubbery makes this park an easy 
rival of the Tuilleries of Paris and St. James of Lon- 
don. Its monument to Lord Cavendish, near the 
center of the park, erected on the spot where the lord 
and his private secretary were assassinated a few years 



186 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

since, was an unpleasant reminder of an event full of 
consternation to the landlords and government offi- 
cials. Lord Cavendish was unfortunate in being a 
leader in causing evictions to be pushed for non-pay- 
ment of rents. High rents and inability to pay had 
driven tenants to a state of frenzy and a crisis was 
imminent. The assassination of these two men 
wrought a climax and a discussion in parliament of 
the causes leading up to the crime ended in a modifi- 
cation of prices by the landlords, and less arbitrary 
methods for the collection of the same. 

The early history of Dublin consists mainly of 
legends. There is nothing reliable in regard to its 
organization. There are records of its being at war 
with the people of Leinster, the province in which 
Dublin is located, in the year 291, and that Christian- 
ity was introduced by St. Patrick in the year 450. 

In the ninth century the city was attacked by the 
Danes, later the Danes were driven out by the Irish 
and for a period of 800 years there were wars galore, 
in which the Normans, the English and the Scotch 
in turn took a hand. In the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries there seemed to have been growth 
and prosperity in Dublin and throughout the Irish 
kingdom as well. Ireland became, in those days, 
prominent as an industrial mart, but bickerings, in- 
ternal strife, and clashing in home government ended 
in 1801 in union with Great Britain, or in other words 
whatever Ireland possessed of independence was 
merged into the government of Great Britain. In- 
stead of this union ending her troubles a new field of 
misfortune, misadventure and misery was opened to 



THE IRISH METROPOLIS. 187 

her people. During nearly the entire nineteenth cen- 
tury, between the English government and her Irish 
subjects friction and inharmony have been the rule. 

It is not my purpose to discuss Irish grievances or 
the effect of this union of interests, but I will simply 
say — that while the effect of the union has not fulfilled 
the expectations of the British government, it has been 
disastrous to the Irish kingdom. It has been a house 
divided against itself. During the last century Eng- 
land and Scotland, from commercial, industrial and 
maritime standpoints, forged ahead by leaps and 
bounds, while Ireland not only failed to make progress 
along these lines, but the end of the century showed a 
decided loss from the beginning. Irish agitation in 
the houses of parliament has familiarized the world 
with the nature of these troubles. The efforts of the 
late Premier W. E. Gladstone, and the late Irish liber- 
ator Charles Parnell, were not barren of results, 
although they failed to fully accomplish the ends 
sought. How, or when the nut of Irish liberty is to 
be cracked and the enjoyment of the rights and privi- 
leges hoped for by the rank and file of that country, 
is a question that cannot be answered. With the 
small Irish representation in parliament to me the 
prospects of any radical change for the better in the 
treatment of Irish subjects is not flattering. So- 
called Irish liberty I can but regard as a delusive 
phantom, a dream not soon to be realized. 

Our party was driven out to the main cemetery 
of Dublin where rests the remains of the most famous 
of Ireland's loyal sons. The monument to Daniel 
O'Connell reaches the farthest towards the heavens 



188 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

and is the most elaborate in its construction. That of 
Charles Parnell comes next; there were many others 
less imposing. There was Burke, a native of Dublin, 
whose eloquence for thirty years thrilled the houses of 
parliament, and whose oratory was matchless in the 
world's history. And then there were monuments to 
Sheridan, and Phillips, and Curran, and Grattan, 
Boyle, Malone, Flood, Perry, Daly, Bergh, and hosts 
of others who achieved fame and distinction in their 
day. 

With the biography of Parnell there is a tinge of 
sadness which Irishmen would gladly forget. He 
was a young man of brilliant attainments, distin- 
guished for both courage and ability. He early be- 
came a champion of Irish liberty and reform, and to 
him was pinned the faith and hopes of 5,000,000 
people. 

Our driver pointed out a large hall within sight 
of the monument reared to the memory of Parnell and 
with the remark, "I have heard him speak in this hall 
many a night when the place would not hold one- 
half the people that wanted to get in. They filled the 
yard around the building and the road besides, hoping 
to catch a few words of his eloquence." 

When I asked about his popularity, he said: 
"Why, sir, the people worshipped him, he was their 
idol, but the poor man by one fatal mistake lost his 
hold upon the masses, and died prematurely of a 
broken heart." Ireland may well take pride in her 
orators and their loyalty for centuries, to her vital in- 
terests. If brilliant efforts in the halls of legislation 
could have secured to her the rights which she claims, 
her troubles would long ago have been settled. 



THE IRISH METROPOLIS. 189 

Few if any countries with similar population have 
been able to show such an array of talent as has 
distinguished Ireland during the last ten centuries. 
She has little to console her for this seeming waste 
of distinguished effort. 

Ireland seemed to have been created in the prodi- 
gality of nature. Bountiful harvests gathered in 
something over half of her territory for a time sup- 
ported more than 8,000,000 people. With less than 
half the arable land in Ohio, twice our population 
were able sixty years ago to make a living. But 
calamity has succeeded calamity until 8,000,000 
people have been reduced to 5,000,000. First the in- 
troduction of the potato in 1610 proved a dangerous 
proposition. From one-third to one-half the people 
depended upon it for a living. With the bountiful 
crops of the dangerous tuber populations multiplied. 
There was little frost in Ireland and for a long time 
no thought of storing the potato for future use. 
Finally a cold freezing winter destroyed the crop and 
starvation swept the people away by thousands. Next 
the potato blight in 1837 brought on a disastrous 
famine, and later its complete destruction by rot in 
1847 resulted in starvation of between two and three 
hundred thousand people. 

Up to that date agriculture in Ireland was con- 
fined almost exclusively to the production of potatoes 
and grass which was utilized in raising cattle and 
sheep. 

The famine of 1847 tended to stimulate diversified 
agriculture, and with the exception of Indian corn, 
Irish farmers are today following almost the identical 



190 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

lines in crop production being followed by the farmers 
of Ohio. 

That the cities of Ireland should be prolific of 
crime is not marvelous. With the lack of industries 
furnishing employment, low wages, high rents and 
high taxes, the poor classes become disheartened and 
discouraged. The system of municipal government is 
usually arbitrary and tempered with little mercy The 
argument of the violators is that they are sinned 
against. The masses charge England with stripping 
the mother of capital, taking their bread and giving 
them a stone in return. They charge that the policy 
of the English government has produced annihilation 
and given them a deluge of debt instead. True or 
untrue to the Irish peasant, or to the middle and lower 
classes, this arraignment of their government of last 
resort is regarded by them as being founded upon 
facts. 

From Dublin to Killarney, 185 miles through the 
central portion of Ireland, was a revelation to the 
tourists who had previously associated Ireland with 
poverty and destitution. The deep fertility of the soil 
and the bountiful crops the most of this distance, dis- 
pelled all thoughts of scarcity. The yields of wheat, 
hay and oats and root crops were immense. 

Methods of cultivation could be compared with 
ours of fifty years ago. The use of sickles, cradles and 
scythes were everywhere present with an occasional 
reaper and mowing machine. 

The frequent rains in Ireland and the entire free- 
dom from drouth keeps all vegetation fresh and makes 
the rich emerald green of the forests and fields a con- 



THE IRISH METROPOLIS. 191 

stant delight. The most luxuriant pastures that I 
saw in Europe were along the road to Killarney, and 
such cattle one does not see in such numbers in 
America. Thousands of thoroughbred short-horns, 
every one fit for a show animal, were being raised 
and finished for the Liverpool and London markets. 
The breeding and feeding of mutton-sheep is being 
pursued with the same painstaking. Not an inferior 
animal, not a scrub being tolerated. 

The country along the way, although productive 
beyond calculation, presented a lonely and often deso- 
late appearance. The fences are nearly all moss-cov- 
ered stone walls, and the houses are generally small, 
old and uninviting. Flowers and shrubbery around 
the dwellings were the exception instead of the rule. 
The excuse being that ornamentation and improve- 
ments would mean an increase in the rents. 

Like the English, the Irish farmer depends upon 
stacking his grain and hay, there being no barns. 

Incidentally, while Ireland possesses some of the 
richest land in all Europe it is her misfortune to have 
some of the poorest. 



KILLARNEY, ITS SCENERY AND 
SURROUNDINGS 



BEAUTY OF THE LAKES— THE ROAD TO BANTRY BAY— HOPELESS 
POVERTY OF COUNTRY AND PEOPLE— FROM CORK TO BEL- 
FAST. 



Killarney is an old market town with a population 
of about 6,000. It is located on a branch of the Cork 
railway in the county of Kerry. Formerly Killarney 
was made prosperous by a variety of manufacturing 
industries which have became obsolete. These in- 
cluded an iron smelting works, the roof of which has 
fallen in. Fancy articles made from the wood of 
the arbutus and the fisheries are the only enterprises 
of importance employing labor. The fine scenery in 
the neighborhood attracts thousands of visitors from 
abroad and their money has latterly given an impetus 
to the ancient city, which is claimed to be greatly im- 
proved in appearance. The court house, cathedral, 
the bishop's palace, and the railway hotel are the lead- 
ing public buildings. Out in the suburbs is a lunatic 
asylum, which was erected at a cost of $150,000. The 
mansion of the earl of Kenmare also is located not far 
away. The principal street of the city has business 
places and residences located alternately. It is often 
less than one short step from splendor to squalor. 

The architecture of the old part of the town can- 
not fail to interest all Americans. Brick houses with 
more brick in the chimneys than in the side-walls, and 
their steep roofs frequently coming down within easy 

192 



KILLARNEY AND SURROUNDINGS. 193 

reach from the sidewalk are frequent. In entering 
the first story of these houses you usually take two or 
three steps down, and to reach the second story two 
or three steps up. The streets are usually well paved, 
and the business places largely devoted to the drink 
habit. The sale of Irish and Scotch whiskies indica- 
ted that the total abstinence societies formed by 
Father Mathew, sixty years ago, are not flourishing. 

It may be interesting to know that Father Mathew, 
the greatest of all temperance reformers, was born in 
Limerick, but a few miles from Killarney. In Gal- 
way, Dublin and other leading cities he secured total 
abstinence pledges often at the rate of twenty thou- 
sand a day, reaching in the aggregate hundreds of 
thousands. Old residents will remember his visit to 
America, and his two years of temperance work from 
1849 to 1851. 

The market street of Killarney was generally 
occupied with donkeys and carts in charge of women 
and loaded with such commodities as the country 
affords. 

The scenery in the neighborhood of this old city 
is one of the leading attractions of Ireland. Poets 
have made the lakes of Killarney famous. I walked 
out to Ross castle, an ancient ruin two miles from the 
city. On each side of the highway the most of the 
distance were high stone walls mossy gray with 
age. The street was shaded with trees that were ever 
green and their foliage mingled with the shrubbery 
and roses of wild varieties made a scene that was 
enchanting. There were wild fuchias at least twelve 
feet high loaded with blossoms. I was informed that 



194 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

the land, which is very rich along that road, rents 
for six lbs. an acre, or thirty dollars of our money. In 
front of Ross castle lies the lake of Loch Leane cover- 
ing five thousand acres. This is one of a series of the 
lakes of Killarney, situated in a basin between lofty 
mountain groups which rise abruptly from the waters' 
edge, and are clothed with a thick mass of trees and 
shrubbery. Loch Leane is studded with some finely 
wooded islands which add largely to its attraction. 

I bargained with a venerable son of Erin for a ride 
on the lake, and was landed on the island of Inisfallen 
which Thomas Moore so fittingly describes in his 
"Sweet Inisfallen." He says: 

Sweet Inisfallen, fare thee well, 
May calm and sunshine long be thine : 
How fair thou art let others tell, — 
To feel how fair shall long be mine. 

Weeping or smiling lonely isle ; 
And all the lovelier for thy tears — 
For tho' but rare thy sunny smile 
'Tis heaven's own glance when it appears. 
Like feeling hearts whose joys are few, 
But when indeed they come, divine. 
The brightest light the sun ere threw 
Is lifeless to one gleam of thine. 

On this island of twenty-one acres are the pictur- 
esque ruins of an abbey founded by St. Finian in the 
sixth century. In addition to this ancient fortress 
were the ruins of an alleged college and also a reform- 
atory. My simple minded gondolier was a faithful 
type of a class of guides in Europe whose fertile imag- 
inations supply whatever is lacking in history, 



KILLARNEY AND SURROUNDINGS. 195 

legendry or mythology. He pointed out the grave 
of St. Finian, told of his brilliant career, of his making 
this island the refuge of the monied classes. Of the 
treasure which was buried there, during the sixth 
century by the monks having it in charge. He told 
tales of the grand hunt for these buried millions which 
had been kept up from century to century, and with 
apparent sincerity and emphasis insisted "that the 
money is still here, sir." 

A flock of well-developed black-nosed sheep were 
being fattened upon the shamrock which covered the 
surface of this island. Shamrock, as every one knows, 
is the emblem of Ireland. It is a first cousin of 
white clover and is one of the sweetest of all grasses. 
My new found friend cut a piece of sod from the 
mound supposed to cover the grave of St. Finian, 
requested me to take it home and raise shamrock of 
my own. I followed his instructions, but like St. Fin- 
ian, the shamrock died. Thomas Moore never found 
a more charming spot to write about. Added to the 
scenery of this island are the fringes of the lake and 
the blue sparkling water, said to be three hundred feet 
deep in places, with here and there a ruined castle in 
the distance. Cottages of the well-to-do people 
around the edges of the water, also the fine old resi- 
dence of Daniel O'Connell, the great Irish liberator, 
located on the spot where he was born, added to the 
fascination. 

When about to return to Killarney I requested 
my guide to take an air line route instead of going by 
Ross castle. Where I landed the bushes were thick 
and high, and to my request to point out the way — 



196 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

with that rich Irish brogue which had never been 
contaminated, or modified by nasal twang, he said, 
"You go an for three hundred yards, then turn to 
your right and go an till you meet two bridges, and 
when they pass you, you will be in the town." I met 
the bridges and reached the town. 

From Killarney to Bantry Bay, a distance of fifty 
miles, our party proceeded by stage coach. A mili- 
tary road made by the government made the trip 
feasible which would otherwise have been nearly or 
quite impossible, as mountains and high hills were the 
rule. Ireland is frequently spoken of as being the best 
and poorest country on the globe. Along this route 
we found verification of the poor end of this theory. 
Usually mountains mingle with rich valleys, not so 
in this case, the valleys seem to have been quick-sand, 
springy, and almost destitute of fertility. For at 
least thirty miles of this distance the poverty of the soil 
was only exceeded by the poverty of the inhabitants. 
For centuries, apparently, that country has been 
inhabited, but how the people managed to live is not 
readily comprehended. 

A typical house is a hut, say twelve feet square, 
one story, a four-lighted window on each side. No 
floors nor partitions. I managed to get inside of one 
of them. It was a step down from the common level. 
The earth answering the purpose of a floor was not 
level. A pile of straw in one corner served the 
purpose of beds. A few boulders in one end were a 
substitute for a fire-place. A crane, some hooks, a 
pot, and a kettle constituted the outfit for cooking. 
There was a hole in the roof from which the smoke 



KILLARNEY AND SURROUNDINGS. 197 

was expected to escape, but the smoke from the burn- 
ing peat did not seem to take the hint, and curled 
away in other directions, making the hut as blue as 
the few dishes which made up the stock of crockery. 
The furniture, aside from two or three dry goods 
boxes and a bench, consisted of a table made of rough 
boards, and this place — by a man, his wife and several 
children was called home. Like scores of others of 
the same class it seemed to have been occupied for 
many years. The property of these peasants — if they 
have anything besides the hovel, consists of chickens, 
ducks, geese and pigs, all asserting their right to enter 
the parlor. Sometimes a little black Kerry cow, a 
goat or two, and a lop-eared donkey, finds a home in 
a room attached to the residence. 

These little thatched huts are often in groups of 
ten to twenty, making a little hamlet. This is near 
where the peat beds are located which furnish an 
occasional day's work. 

If these poverty stricken peasants ever have an 
enterprising impulse they have no capital to give it 
shape or direction. With fish, and a few vegetables 
raised among the rocks, and the money earned in the 
better portions of Ireland and England during harvest 
time, they manage to subsist and pay the rents de- 
manded by the landlords. The most of the children 
in these poorest localities are trained beggars. Scat- 
tered along beside the highway these little victims of 
unfortunate environments were making appeals for a 
penny. Clothed in but a single garment, their bright 
eyes, their faces unwashed and their hair uncombed, 
made a spectacle calculated to touch every heart 



198 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

which is not calloused. Their young lives are not 
sweetened by any pleasant recollections, present sur- 
roundings or hopes for the future. And then the 
women lugging peat for miles in baskets strapped to 
their backs added another phase to the abject poverty 
and degradation everywhere present. 

Every tourist wonders why these people are there. 
Why the government does not furnish them some 
relief which will take them away to a country fit for 
habitation. It is, however, a notorious fact that from 
localities, but little better than I describe, have come 
to America thousands of young women and young 
men who have made themselves useful, have made 
thrifty and progressive residents, and by their indus- 
try have accumulated and secured good homes. 
America is the goal for these peasants, and in the 
western and southern portions of Ireland a large 
majority of the families have an American contingent. 

We stayed over night at GlengarifT, an oasis in this 
desert of destitution. 

The soil in that locality is fertile, and the scenery 
and flowers beautiful. The singing of thousands of 
birds furnished a charm not often found in America, 
where inhuman bird destruction is tolerated. On ten 
miles to Bantry Bay, a little seaport town emphasizing 
the poverty and squalor of that country, we saw an- 
chored Sir Thomas Lipton's Shamrock No. 1, that all 
the world knows about. Lipton, with his 450 stores, 
a resident of the north of Ireland, is said to be the 
greatest of the merchants of Europe. 

A few hours from Bantry, through a much better 
country, landed us in Cork, one of the oldest Irish 



KILLARNEY AND SURROUNDINGS. 199 

cities, with a population of about 100,000. Cork has 
long been a manufacturing town of importance, and 
in spite of the reverses and drawbacks encountered by 
Ireland, she has managed to maintain a good deal of 
her prestige. The city has many fine public improve- 
ments by way of railways, tramways, pavements, etc. 
Some of her primitive customs are retained. At the 
leading hotel where we stopped I was shown to bed 
with a tallow candle. This same thing occurred in 
five of the six hotels of Ireland where we were enter- 
tained, and they were all the best houses obtainable. 

Our party took in Blarney castle a few miles from 
Cork. Few tourists miss this ancient humbug, but it 
wasn't possible to muster courage enough in our 
group to make the attempt to kiss the Blarney stone. 
This is a hazardous undertaking as it involves the 
danger of falling seventy feet to the ground. The 
castle is a huge old affair which for a long time re- 
sisted the guns of Oliver Cromwell. 

Back to Dublin for a few hours and on to Belfast 
made a long day's ride, compassing nearly the entire 
length of the Irish kingdom. Too much cannot be 
said in praise of Belfast, or in fact of the most of the 
north of Ireland. Nature's endowments of that part 
of the country were generously supplied and the enter- 
prise of her people which has been going on for cen- 
turies has given the landscape a finished appearance. 
Fine residences scattered thro' the country, high cul- 
tivation, great crops and substantial improvements 
characterizes the work of the farmers. The cities and 
small towns along the way all seem prosperous. 

Drogheda on the Boyne, the birth place and 



200 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

former home of many residents of this county, was 
one of the most substantial looking places seen in my 
travels. Down on the river where the famous battle 
of the Boyne was fought, are immense stock yards 
where cattle dealers were busy with their trading. 

Belfast, a city of 300,000 people, is the leading 
manufacturing city of Ireland, and is up-to-date in all 
respects. Its public buildings and business places are 
fine. Belfast has long been the seat of the linen 
industry of the world, and her goods continue to sus- 
tain the prestige earned by the manufacture of fine 
qualities. Some of her merchants complained bit- 
terly of American competition and American prices. 
They pronounced our goods inferior to theirs, but to 
successfully compete with American prices it was nec- 
essary to show buyers the difference, and to sell at 
prices which they could not afford. In forty years 
Belfast has come up to her present proportions from 
a city of about 40,000 inhabitants. Her ship building 
interests are immense, and her keen, far-sighted busi- 
ness men are as enterprising and progressive as can 
be found in any city of Europe. 



GIANTS' CAUSEWAY 



LONDONDERRY— ADIEU TO EUROPE— TO KNOW MUST BE SEEN— 
AMERICAN GREATNESS— STORM AT SEA. 



From Belfast to Giants' Causeway through the 
little city of Port Rush was a ride of about four hours, 
the most of the way by steam road. The last nine 
miles by an electric motor. Every school boy of the 
old days will remember the pictures in his geography 
of the Giants' Causeway, and how he associated the 
rocks with giants, and wondered what their relations 
to the Causeway really were. This unique pier is a 
geological mystery. By what process 100,000 or 
more pillars were wrought out, or molded and 
mechanically placed in position with exactness is an 
enigma that will never be fully solved. Our party 
engaged a guide, an old timer, who would have us 
believe that it was the work of a race of real giants, 
but he failed to awaken any of our credulity. There is 
a legend, however, that it was the beginning of a road 
to be constructed by giants across the channel to 
Scotland. Our guide took us in a row-boat out into 
the foaming surf, rowed us into a great cave where 
echoes were even more interesting than stalactites. 
Where the report of a gun in the hands of a gentle- 
man laying for a tip was repeated and reverberated 
beyond all calculation. We were finally landed on a 
collection of about 40,000 pillars, and our guide in- 
formed us that no two of them were alike, or of the 

201 



202 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

same shape. In circumference they ranged from 45 
to 60 inches. None of them were square. They were 
all standing erect, and varying in height from six feet 
to twenty feet. The longest ones were in sections, 
and where the ends came together were without ex- 
ception either convex or concave, and fitted together 
with such skill as would be shown by an expert 
mechanic. The same skill was manifest in the relation 
of the pillars to each other. The rock is all basaltic, 
and nearly as hard as granite. Projecting from the 
high banks along the shore were pillars of a similar 
character in a horizontal position, suggestive in their 
form of the pipes in a great church organ. 

On to Londonderry, a city of 40,000 inhabitants 
located on the river Foyle 80 miles northwest of Bel- 
fast. The Foyle is navigable for large boats, and is 
crossed at "Derry" by an iron bridge 1,200 feet in 
length. The city is mostly upon edge, and its ancient 
portion is still surrounded with a rampart a mile in 
circumference, having seven gates. There are two 
cathedrals, and the abbey of Temple More, or Great 
church erected in 1174 before its destruction by the 
Normans was one of the finest buildings in Ireland. 
It was destroyed in the year 1600. The public build- 
ings of the city are creditable. Some of the antique 
residences with high pyramidal gables still exist, but 
they are being modernized. There are a large number 
of manufactories of various kinds in Derry, but linen 
leads all others. All the stores, both wholesale and 
retail, carry a generous supply, and prices show the 
effect of keen competition. A little, aged, stooped- 
shouldered daughter of Erin located on the bridge 



GIANTS' CAUSEWAY. 203 

where she followed the occupation of fruit-seller, is 
credited with a sample of genuine Irish repartee. 
Being approached by a man from Kansas whose con- 
ceit, or desire to be smart (which often overtakes men 
away from home) with the remark, "I suppose you 
think those water melons of yours are large, but we 
have apples in Kansas that will beat them for size." 
Her quick reply was, "go long wid yees; I don't want 
to be bothered with a man that don't know water 
melons from gooseberries." 

And this ends an interesting week in Ireland, a 
country that from childhood I had cherished an in- 
tense desire to visit. Knowing a good deal, as I have, 
of Irish character, their generosity, their lasting 
friendships and their certainty to remember every 
kind act, made a visit to the land of their birth doubly 
entertaining. And now my account of things seen in 
Europe is at an end. 

What I have said in this volume has been 
mainly from a memory upon which three months' 
travel made deep, and lasting impressions. I have 
aimed to give the reader as truthful and faithful 
an account of what I saw as possible, but, like all 
descriptive writers, I could not hope to entirely 
escape criticism. If these letters have been instruc- 
tive in a degree to awaken enthusiasm, loyalty, 
and a keener patriotism for our own country, her 
government and her institutions, this shall be my 
greatest reward. Comparisons furnish a basis for in- 
telligent opinions, and to know Europe it must be 
seen. No unprejudiced mind will fail to concede to 
America both a physical growth and an advancement 



204 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE, 

in all things which contribute to the highest and best 
interests of mankind during the last century, which 
has no parallel in the world's history; but to fully 
appreciate this a trip to foreign lands is almost indis- 
pensable. If the laboring men of this country could 
realize the difference between getting a dollar in 
America, and getting a dollar in Europe, especially 
on the continent, and the value of that dollar in com- 
parison — for securing a home — there would be less 
uneasiness among our operatives. If the young men 
of America who complain of lack of opportunities for 
rising in the world could be made to believe that they 
are absolute masters of their own destinies, while the 
mass of the young men of Europe, in fact of all the 
old countries, have their destinies made for them, 
there would be less complaint. Here the young man 
with correct habits and industry, if he is frugal and 
chaste, has little to fear, and his aim should be to 
become a partner in the grand opportunities which 
are being spread before the people of this country. 
Every true American will take pride in the fact that 
his lot is cast in a land which develops its interests by 
the exercise of brain-power, quick blood and wise 
statutory provision. We have demonstrated that 
American skill and enterprise are the greatest of all its 
great resources. This country has absolutely nothing 
to fear except the operations, or machinations of a set 
of outcasts of the old world which have been dumped 
upon us. These known enemies of all government, of 
all law, of education, of religion, of society and of 
everything good needs prompt attention. Their 
power for mischief should not be minimized. Their 



GIANTS' CAUSEWAY. 205 

exaggerated ideas of freedom or liberty is an exotic 
growth. Government to them by man is oppression, 
and a condition of confusion, disaster and chaos their 
aim. There is no room in America for anarchists, or 
a class of enemies plotting for the destruction of our 
government by assassination. Since the murder of 
President McKinley — the greatest statesman, and the 
most beloved of any man in the wide world — we are 
confronted with the grave question that has long 
menaced Russia, of whether our rulers can safely 
mingle with the masses of the people. With such 
rights as are guaranteed the people of this country, no 
such hazard should obtain a foothold. Freedom to 
enjoy the benefits vouchsafed by our fathers must be 
maintained. That three of the last seven presidents 
elected by the people should be shot to death is a per- 
manent blot upon American history. But that blot 
can be partially removed by some wholesome laws and 
their prompt and vigorous execution. 

Bidding adieu to Europe with all her wealth, her 
poverty, her antiquities and her enchantments, the 
morning of the 7th of September found us aboard of 
a lighter prepared for a ride down the Foyle to 
Moville, where the Astoria was anchored, awaiting 
our coming. We witnessed the parting scenes at the 
Londonderry dock, where the sons and daughters 
were taking leave of their parents. Many hot tears 
were shed, some of the old people completely break- 
ing down with grief at the loss of their loved ones. 
We found the Astoria of the Anchor line, a 500 footer, 
without cargo, and with 500 passengers, every berth 
being taken. She was an ordinary ten-day craft with 



206 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

a reputation for being a good sailer and of keeping 
her nose out of the billows. That the sunny skies and 
smooth seas which favored us from New York to 
Glasgow were not to be enjoyed on our return trip 
was soon apparent. But fortunately there was no hint 
of the horrors awaiting us (created by the storm at 
Galveston, two days later). On Sunday we listened 
to a practical sermon by Very Reverend Dean Fair, 
of Omaha, a venerable and much respected Episco- 
palian. 

Taking an account of stock on an ocean liner, 
when, as in this case, the passenger list is full, is an 
amusement offering relief to the undiversified mono- 
tony. Friendships were quickly made on shipboard, 
and sets were readily made up. All professional men 
have a way of finding each other. They might be seen 
in groups, discussing topics which pertained to their 
respective callings. 

The gamblers and the sporting fraternity were 
located in the smoking-room, generally oblivious to 
their surroundings, but intent upon the game being 
played for profit. The flirtations of the young people 
occupying the decks, especially during the late hours, 
offered rare entertainment to the contingent, which 
had passed to the sere and yellow leaf. For solid 
enjoyment the steerage passengers took the lead of all 
others. Although deprived of nearly every comfort, 
their numerous songs were exuberant and often musi- 
cal. Round dances, Irish jigs, music on the violin or 
banjo, which was kept up during their waking hours, 
was a source of delight to the cabin passengers. 

When storms overtook the ship they were driven 



GIANTS' CAUSEWAY. 207 

below and the hatches fastened down. During these 
seasons darkness and foul air must be contended with, 
and, although deathly sea-sickness was the portion of 
the majority, after the crisis had passed they came up 
smiling and resumed their daily rounds of hilarity. 
So-called high life by no means furnished all the con- 
tentment or all the philosophers to be found on the 
Astoria. 

All went well until the evening of the 12th, when a 
lurid glare at sunset portended evil. A concert in the 
saloon in the evening, in which our captain took a 
prominent part, was disturbed by the increasing seas, 
and at ten o'clock, with a rapidly falling barometer, a 
great storm was imminent. The night was a sleepless 
one ; our boat, a thousand miles from New York and 
near the banks, was steered straight for trie seas (ever 
increasing in volume) without regard to our destina- 
tion. The morning found us facing a sixty mile 
breeze or hurricane. What would under moderate 
conditions have been white caps, were, by force of the 
wind, converted into mist, and drops of water, filling 
the air, giving the impression of a rain storm, when 
there was no rain. 

There is something grand, majestic, and sublime 
in the broad Atlantic, when conditions are favorable. 
When water is not disturbed with wind, and when 
sunshine and ripples combine to produce something 
similar to millions of sparkling diamonds, when little 
rainbows are created apparently for your amusement, 
and when great whales spout in their hilarity, and 
schools of porpoises take their evening exercise, leap- 
ing with their ten foot bodies entirely out of the water, 



208 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

seemingly to furnish you entertainment ; or when the 
six day floating palaces go plowing through their 
3,000 miles of blue water, giving you a sniff of their 
smoke and a hint of this progressive age; but when 
every drop of water in sight has become angry, when 
wind and water have combined to do their worst, and 
you are placed at the mercy of the elements, then all 
conceit leaves you, all pride vanishes, and you are 
impressed only with a sense of your weakness, your 
helplessness and your own insignificance, then you 
feel like the poet who exclaimed, "Oh why should the 
spirit of mortal be proud?" 

I am unable to paint the picture presented to us on 
the morning of the 13th; language is inadequate. 
Photographs of storms at sea fall far short of the real 
thing, as they lack the volume and scope needed. In 
this case, the waves, which were perhaps fifty feet 
high, if measured perpendicularly, measured at an 
angle of twenty-five to forty-five degrees meant a 
sweep of hundreds of feet, and the water scooped up 
by the hurricane to make these immense seas was 
taken by acres. The white headed billows in the dis- 
tance, each apparently struggling to see over the one 
in front, as they came thundering on, forming chasms, 
valleys, hills, mountains and precipices, sometimes 
clashing themselves into fragments, and sometimes 
uniting with other billows to produce a monster sea, 
leaving in its wake an undulating valley, were fright- 
ful and awe-inspiring, while the hurricane at sea with 
its surge upon surge, is a rare exhibition of power. 

The track of the cyclone upon land, where annihi- 
lation is complete, is a fearful lesson difficult to com- 



GIANTS' CAUSEWAY. 209 

prehend, as the work of the unseen is over in one brief 
moment. At sea the typhoon lasting for hours, 
menacing you with destruction, toying with your 
fears and coquetting with your emotions, is a living, 
a terrible, ferocious reality. 

The forenoon was spent in riding these huge 
waves. We were constantly either diving down, down 
into these great valleys of water with the stern of our 
boat on the crest, the wheel hoisted entirely out of the 
water, or we were crawling at a sharp angle up the 
side of the mountain, while the stern was down in the 
depths surrounded with walls of water and foam. 

At noon the wind had increased to eighty miles an 
hour, the terror of the seas each apparently intent 
upon making us their prey was too fearful to look 
upon, the faces of strong men turned away. All on 
board realized their peril, but as our boat had for 
twelve hours successfully ridden the storm, we hoped 
for the best. Suddenly the engine stopped, the heart 
which had furnished the life to our craft ceased to 
beat. Power to cope with the elements was stilled. 
Word was immediately passed through the ship that 
the steering gear was broken, that we were in the 
trough of the sea helpless; this we realized when the 
rolling of the boat begun ; when side walls were con- 
verted into ceilings and ceilings into side walls, when 
the side rails, which in still water were twenty-four 
feet from the level of the sea, dipped into the foam, 
first one side then the other, when the spray reached 
to the top of the smokestacks, when everything move- 
able within the ship seemed to be alive, when waves 
dashed across the deck, when trunks left the state- 



210 GLIMPSES OF EUROPE. 

rooms and went tumbling- up and down the halls, 
when crockery by the bushel was being smashed, 
when every joint of our boat creaked and shrieked and 
groaned as if in agony, and when every passenger who 
attempted to move about was either injured by falling 
or had a narrow escape, and the ship's surgeon was 
kept busy binding up wounds. 

The howling of the tempest, the cry of the sailors 
tightening the guys to the smokestacks to keep them 
from blowing away, added to the appalling scene. 
At the end of two hours, in which the passengers 
calmly awaited the outcome, the repair had been 
made; once more we listened to the throbs of the 
engine, which stopped again and again, and each time 
was watched with all the intentsity of the last pulsa- 
tions of a dying friend. 

Our heroic, large-hearted officers, by their reas- 
suring words had prevented a panic, and now, by their 
good management righted the ship and we again rode 
the seas in triumph. A few hours and all danger was 
past. 

On the morning of the 16th we sighted New York 
harbor, thankful for our deliverance, and all happy at 
the thought of landing in the grandest country that 
the sun ever shone on. 



DEC 9 1901 



10 1901 
DEC 12 I2 1901 



